Abstract:
This is the story of Jim Tugerson, a black baseball player, a pitcher, from Florence Villa, Florida, who in 1953 showed the baseball world and his Knoxville Smokies’ teammates a side of him no one would ever forget, a side that defined him as a ball player and as a man.

Schoolboy came to the Smokies because he was black. After being denied a second time to pitch for Hot Springs, Schoolboy’s attorney filed a $50,000 civil rights lawsuit against the Cotton States League and others. At Knoxville he compiled 29 regular season wins and 4 playoff wins, making him the winningest pitcher in organized baseball that year.