Larry Doby
Larry Doby was the first African American to play in the American League (Rust, 1992). He broke the color barrier only 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson. Doby was born in South Carolina and was raised in New Jersey. In High School he was a four-sport letterman and earned himself a basketball scholarship at Long Island University. He then transferred to Virginia Union University, and later joined the Navy. Before his service in the Navy he was a member of the Negro League's Newark Eagles. He rejoins them in 1946 after his discharge. During the 1946 Season he led his team to the World Championship beating the Kansas City Monarchs. On July 4, 1947, while leading the Negro Leagues in homeruns and batting, Bill Veeck of the Cleveland Indians signed him to a contract for $15,000. During his major league career he played in the 1948 World Series, hitting a 400-foot winning homerun. He ended the game with a batting average of .318. He was selected to six straight Major League All-Star Games between 1949-1954. He also played in the Negro League All-Star match-up making him one of six players to play in both. He was the first Negro Leaguer to win a Major League homerun crown in 1952 with 32 homers, in 1954 he lead the American League in homeruns again with 32 and made 126 RBI's to win that title. He is also one of four Negro players who took field in both Major and Negro League World Series Games (The Negro Leagues Professional Baseball, 1998). After his playing Career he coached for the Expos, Indians and White Sox. His uniform number 14, was retired by the Cleveland Indians on July 3, 1994 and he was elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1998 (The Ball Players-CBS SportsLine, 1998).
References
Rust, A. (1992). Get That Nigger Off the Field. Los Angeles: Shadow Lawn Press
(1998) The Negro Leagues Professional Baseball, [Online]. Available: http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com/ [1998, December 7].
(1998) The Ball Players-CBS SportsLine, [Online]. Available: http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/baseball/mlb/1998/hall/doby.htm [1998, December 7].