Parents' Guide to Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series

Parents need to know that Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series is a nonfiction children's sports history picture book written by Traci Sorrel, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and illustrated by Arigon Starr, an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. Contenders tells the story of two Native American baseball players from the early 20th century who played against each other in the 1911 World Series. Charles Bender was a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Ojibwe Indians, and John Meyers was a citizen of the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians. Bender was a pitcher, and Meyers was a catcher and batter, and they went on to play in a combined total of nine championships, one of them against each other, again, in 1913. Bender and Meyers faced immense racism, racist mascots, taunting, and derogatory insults like "Chief," "Indian," and "Redskin." The book details how as kids they both had to endure "abusive" boarding schools, where they were forced to perform manual labor and assimilate to White culture. Bender's father was also abusive, so he ran away as a teenager. A Native kid gets hit in the face with a baseball. The book details each player's immense achievements, including some of their statistics and credits, like how Bender is credited for inventing the slider, a type of pitch that many pitchers use today.