BASEBALL'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE
THE MAJOR LEAGUES (1947-1960)
THE GROUND-BREAKERS
With the major league debut of Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1947, the hopes of several generations of African-American baseball players and fans had been realized. And while Jackie Robinson was the first and most well-known, there were other new major leaguers who came directly behind him, who had to face the same taunts, threats, abuses, and expressions of hate on a daily basis. These were the men who were the first to integrate the various major league teams between 1947 and 1957.
TOM ALSTON (1926-1993)
Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Position: First Base
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1957
Tom Alston was a 6' 5" first baseman who played parts of four years with the St. Louis Cardinals
ERNIE BANKS (1931- )
Team: Chicago Cubs
Debut Date: September 17, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1971
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977
Known to millions as Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks was (until the arrival of Alex Rodriguez) the greatest power-hitting shortstop in baseball history. His career started in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs before being brought to the Cubs by their Negro League scout and former Monarchs manager Buck O'Neil. The two time National League MVP (1958 & 1959) hit 512 home runs and was named to Major League Baseball's All-Century Team in 2000.
LARRY DOBY (1923-2003)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 5, 1947
Years in the Major Leagues: 1947-1959
Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998
A gifted power-hitting centerfielder with great speed, Larry Doby was the first African-American to play in the American League. A six-time All-Star, Doby's career started in the Negro Leagues with the Newark Eagles. Besides being the second African-American to play in the major leagues, Doby also followed Frank Robinson to become the second African-American to manage at the major league level when he was hired by White Sox owner Bill Veeck (the man who signed him to the Indians as a player) to manage the team in 1978.
ELIJAH "PUMPSIE" GREEN (1933- )
Team: Boston Red Sox
Debut Date: July 21, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1963
Pumpsie Green was a second baseman and pinch hitter who played four major league seasons with the Red Sox and the New York Mets.
CHUCK HARMON (1924- )
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Debue Date: April 17, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1957
A college basketball star at the University of Toledo, Chuck Harmon was a third baseman who played four seasons in the major leagues.
ELSTON HOWARD (1929-1980)
Team: New York Yankees
Debut Date: April 14, 1955
Years in the Majors: 1955-1968
Elston Howard was one of the American League's top catchers during the 1960's. Breaking in as an understudy to all-time great catcher Yogi Berra, Howard replaced Berra as the Yankees first string catcher in 1960, and was a member of nine Yankee pennant winning teams, including the 1961 team that is considered one of the greatest in baseball history.
MONTE IRVIN (1919- )
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: July 8, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1956
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973
One of the greatest Negro League players of all time, most expected Monte Irvin, and not Jackie Robinson to be the first to break baseball's color barrier. Once arriving in the majors two years after Robinson, he became a fixture in the Giants lineup, with his best year coming in 1951 when he hit .321, with 24HRs and 121 RBIs, which led the National League.
SAM JETHROE (1917-2001)
Team: Boston Braves
Debut Date: April 18, 1950
Years in the Majors: 1950-1954
Sam Jethroe was a centerfielder who played the bulk of his career in the Negro Leagues, but won the 1950 National League Rookie of the Year Award in his first year in the Major Leagues at the age of 33.
JOHN KENNEDY (1926-1998)
Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Debut Date: April 22, 1957
John Kennedy was a long-time Negro League shortstop for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Kansas City Monarchs. He finished his baseball career by playing the 1957 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
CURT ROBERTS (1929-1969)
Team: Pittsburgh Pirates
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Year in the Majors: 1954-1956
Curt Roberts was a second basemen who spent most of his baseball career in the minor leagues. Raised in Oakland, CA, he was the first of many black major leaguers to come out of the city of Oakland and predominantly Black McClymonds High School.
JACKIE ROBINSON (1919-1972)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 15, 1947
Year in the Majors: 1947-1956
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962
Jackie Robinson, arguably the greatest all-around athlete of the 20th Century, went to the Baseball Hall of Fame playing a sport that was his least favorite. As a high school student, he was a nationally-ranked tennis player, who went on to UCLA where he was an All-American running back, the Pac-8's (now Pac-10) leading scorer for two consecutive years as a point guard in basketball, and the nation's number one-ranked long jumper who would have most likely won an Olympic gold medal had the games not been cancelled due to World War II. He is still the only four-sport letterman in UCLA history.
HANK THOMPSON (1925-1969)
Teams: St. Louis Browns and New York Giants
Debut Dates: July 17, 1947 (Browns); July 8, 1949 (Giants)
Years in the Majors: 1947-1956
The only player to integrate two major-league franchises, Hank Thompson was also the first black player to play in both the National and American Leagues. A gifted athlete but a troubled man, Thompson, who from his mid-teens on frequently ran afoul of the law, earned charges ranging from assault and battery of a woman to armed robbery. He died prematurely at the age of 43 from a heart seizure.
BOB TRICE (1926-1988)
Team: Philadelphia Athletics
Debut Date: September 13, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1955
Bob Trice was a pitcher whose career started with the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues.
THE PIONEERS
After the ground was broken, the way was clear for a FEW more black players to appear on major-league rosters. Until the late 1960's, most major-league teams had a 3-4 man "black quota" limiting the presence of black players on their teams. These were some of the "first wave" of African-American players who came in after the doors were initially opened in the late 1940s.
HENRY AARON (1934- )
Team: Milwaukee Braves
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1976
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982
Considered by many to be the greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history, Henry Aaron was one of the best all-around players in history. Basically known as a home run hitter now, Aaron won two National League batting titles, three Gold Gloves, and was selected to the National League All-Star team 24 times.
DAN BANKHEAD (1920-1975)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: August 26, 1947
Years in the Majors: 1947-1951
One of the five Bankhead Brothers who starred in the Negro Leagues, Dan Bankhead was the first African-American pitcher in major league baseball history.
JOE BLACK (1924-2002)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: May 1, 1952
Years in the Majors: 1952-1957
A right-handed relief pitcher with an overpowering fastball, Joe Black pitched the Baltimore Elite Giants to two Negro League championships before being signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a relief pitcher. In his first major league season, Black won 15 games, saved 15 others, and was voted the 1952 National League Rookie of the Year.
ROY CAMPANELLA (1921-1993)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 20, 1948
Years in the Majors: 1948-1957
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969
Generally considered one of the five greatest catchers in baseball history, Roy Campanella, along with Yogi Berra, was the premiere catcher of the 1950's. Campanella won three National League MVP Awards (1951, 1953, 1955), and helped lead his team to six World Series appearances.
TOMMY DAVIS (1939- )
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Debut Date: September 22, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1976
A pure hitter, Tommy Davis was a 3-time National League All-Star, and a two-time National League batthing champion. Before embarking on his baseball career, Davis, a native of Brooklyn, was a high school basketball star at Boys High School, where his teammate was future NBA Hall of Fame guard and coach Lenny Wilkins.
LUKE EASTER (1915-1979)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: August 11, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1954
Luke Easter was a 6'4" 240 lb. first baseman who was known for hitting some of the longest home runs ever hit in both the Negro Leagues and the major leagues. After his playing days had ended, Easter spent many years as a chief steward for the Aircraft Workers Union in the Cleveland area. In 1979, after leaving a Euclid, OH bank where he had just cashed checks for employees of his company who couldn't make it to the bank, he was robbed and murdered by two men who had tracked his movements for days.
JIM GILLIAM (1928-1978)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 14, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1966
Jim Gilliam was a second baseman who was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1953. Gilliam played, and then coached for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for 25 years until his death from a brain hemorrhage in 1978.
JIM "MUDCAT" GRANT (1935- )
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: April 17, 1958
Years in the Majors: 1958-1971
A crafty right-hand pitcher, Jim "Mudcat" Grant was a two-time All-Star whose best season came in 1965 when he went 21-7 to lead the American League in wins and helped take the Minnesota Twins to the 1965 World Series.
SAM HAIRSTON (1920-1997)
Team: Chicago White Sox
Debut Date: July 21, 1951
Sam Hairston was a longtime Negro League catcher who was the first African-American to play for the Chicago White Sox (following Cuban Minnie Minoso who was the first black member of the team). Hairston, the first of three generations of major leaguers, was followed to the big leagues by his son Jerry Hairston, an outfielder with the White Sox and Pirates, and his grandson, Jerry Hairston, Jr. currently a member of the Washington Nationals.
SAM JONES (1925-1971)
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: September 22, 1951
Years in the Majors: 1951-1964
"Toothpick" Sam Jones was a pitcher who was as much a master of the strikeout as he was a victim of walks. Twice a Naitonal League leader in both categories, he was the first African-American pitcher to throw a no-hitter at the major-league level when as a Chicago Cub, he shut down the Pittsurgh Pirates on May 12, 1955.
WILLIE MAYS (1931- )
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: May 25, 1951
Years in the Majors: 1951-1973
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979
Willie Mays was the greatest, all-around player in baseball history, He brought to the game what it desperately misses today, someone of supreme talent who masters every aspect of the game, but does it with personality and a LOT of STYLE. If there was a Dr. J/M.J./Kobe of baseball, it was Mays. From the larger-than-necessary cap that would fly off when he ran (giving the appearance that he was even faster than he was) to the basket catch, everything that Mays did was better, more unique, and more fun to watch than anyone else.
Hall of Fame Announcers Talk About Willie Mays
Willie Mays on "What's My Line" - July 11, 1954
CHARLIE NEAL (1931-1996)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 17, 1956
Years in the Majors: 1956-1963
Charlie Neal was an outstanding shortstop who played at a high level, but has somehow been forgotten by history. Neal was a Gold Glove winning shortstop who was selected to two National League All-Star teams, and was a pivotal player on the Dodgers 1959 world championship team.
DON NEWCOMBE (1926- )
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: May 20, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1960
Don Newcombe was a 6' 4" right-handed pitcher who was one of the National League's best for most of his career. He was the first winner of the Cy Young Award for pitching excellence (at a time when only one pitcher in baseball received the award), and is the only player in baseball history to be selected Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award winner, and league MVP. Because of the physical resemblance they both shared as young men, Don Newcombe's nickname "Newk" also became the nickname of his look-alike, legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.
LEROY "SATCHEL" PAIGE (1906-1982)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 9, 1948
Years in the Majors: 1948-1965
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Satchel Paige was able to realize his lifelong dream of reaching the major leagues. The greatest star of Negro League baseball, and considered by many historians to be one of the five greatest pitchers of all time, Paige pitched his first major league game at an age when most players his age had retired. Yet, he was dominant, going 6-1, with a 2.48 ERA, helping the Indians reach the 1948 World Series.
LARRY RAINES (1930-1978)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: April 16, 1957
Years in the Majors: 1957-1958
Larry Raines was a versatile infielder, and was the first player ever to play in the Negro Leagues, the American major leagues and the Japanese major leagues.
FRANK ROBINSON (1935- )
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Debut Date: April 17, 1956
Years in the Majors: 1956-1976
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982
One of the greatest players the game has ever known, Frank Robinson was one of only 11 players in the history of baseball to win the Triple Crown, and the only player in history to be named league MVP in both the American and National League. Like Curt Roberts before him, Robinson grew up in Oakland, CA, and attended McClymonds High School where he played on the school's basketball team alongside Bill Russell.
JOHN ROSEBORO (1933-2002)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: June 14, 1957
Years in the Majors: 1957-1970
John Roseboro replaced Roy Campanella as the Dodger catcher after Campanella suffered permanent paralysis after an automobile injury. On August 22, 1965, he was one of the combatants in the most infamous baseball fight of all time when he was hit in the head with a bat by Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal during one of the imost heated games ever played between longtime rivals the Dodgers and Giants. Roseboro played on three world championship Dodger teams, and caught two of Sandy Koufax's four no-hitters.
ROSEBORO-MARICHAL FIGHT - Candlestick Park, San Francisco - August 22, 1965
AL SMITH (1928-2002)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 10, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1964
Al Smith was a two-time All-Star outfielder who played the bulk of his career with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox.
MAURY WILLS (1932- )
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Debut Date: June 5, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1972
Maury Wills was a five-time National League All-Star, the 1962 National League MVP, and one of the greatest base stealers in baseball history.