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The Second Coming: Larry Doby’s Ignored Legacy

On July 8, 1997, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

The setting was perfect for Lawrence Eugene Doby to be thrust back into the history of Major

League Baseball and the picture of integration as a whole. The league was celebrating the 50th

Anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s monumental first appearance for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the

first African-American player in the modern era. The league aimed to honor surviving pioneers

responsible for the process of integration that spanned multiple decades, starting in 1947. The

second player, whom was the first African-American to integrate the American League, seemed

the most fitting candidate to properly honor the legacy of integration. This sparked the

beginning of Larry Doby’s re-immergence as an important historical figure not only to baseball

but as a figurehead for African-Americans, and a crusader for equal rights.

Previous to this moment, Larry Doby had been virtually lost to history as simply an

insignificant follower, while Jackie Robinson enjoyed national recognition as well as

maintaining a heroic status in baseball as well as in furtherance of race relations in America.

The main argument of this essay is not to downplay or trivialize the accomplishments of Jackie

Robinson in any way, shape, or form. Jackie Robinson and his counterpart Branch Rickey were

very important to the integration of Major League Baseball and have earned their spots among

the heroes of the game. In fact, Larry Doby owes his Major League career to Jackie Robinson in

more ways than one. He had already been a start in the Negro Leagues for the Newark Eagles

playing under the name Larry Walker for some time. Just before moving to the Cleveland

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Indians, Doby was hitting .458 with the Newark Eagles.1 Prior to deciding to pursue a career in

baseball, Larry Doby was planning on becoming a teacher or a coach once he completed his

service in the Navy. With a month left in his service, news of Jackie Robinson being signed to

play for a Dodgers farm team in 1946 reached the unit Doby was with. The promising

possibility of a chance at the Major Leagues was too much for Doby to pass up as a white pitcher

from the Washington Senators, Mickey Vernon, stated, “You’ve got a chance now Larry. The

next one could be you.”2 Along with this there was also the fact that aside from owner Bill

Veeck’s quirky tactics for publicity, it was very unlikely that Cleveland would have brought in

Larry Doby if Branch Rickey’s experiment would have failed.3

Doby’s Legacy: Safe at Second

Larry Doby seemed destined to endure a life, where others had

placed him, in the periphery whether it was his career in baseball or in

his life beyond baseball. There are multiple cases throughout his career

in which Doby comes second to yet another one of baseball’s pioneers.

Jackie Robinson’s breaking of baseball’s color line cast a large shadow

on Larry Doby’s career and setting the bar impossibly high for all the

early players that followed his pioneering of integration. In actuality Jackie Robinson only beats

Larry Doby in integration of Major League Baseball by a total of eleven weeks. Due to Doby’s

1 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 372 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901 – 2002. P. 553 Jules Tygiel. Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. P.217

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late appearance during the 1947 season as the integration pioneer of the American League, Doby

was given the title of “the second man” to integrate Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson is

famously quoted in 1947 saying, “I did my job. I stuck to what I had to do and now that the boys

are coming in, it’s about time they forgot about Robinson”.4 Here Robinson does not literally

mean that his legacy should be forgotten, rather he is imploring the media and baseball fans

throughout America to let Larry Doby be his own player and make his own legacy outside of the

shadow of Jackie Robinson. The wishes of Robinson were, of course, not honored by the sports

media throughout the country then, nor by the historians who later recounted Robinson’s

entrance to Major League Baseball. Many writings tended to focus on the actions of Robinson

and Branch Rickey as a snapshot of integration rather than a broad picture of integration as a

process including many other important people.

The most common comparison made between the two pioneering players was about their

batting averages during the 1947 season when Robinson produced a batting average of .300 and

Doby’s batting average was a meager .156 through 32 plate appearances.5 In comparison to that

negative portrayal of Doby, there was the constant attention of the stardom of Larry Doby during

his 1948 season as they shifted back and forth, in this instance Doby lead with a batting average

of .294 while Robinson had an equally respectable .286.6 Unfortunately the comparisons did not

end at statistics. The comparisons between these two iconic figures can be drawn back to the

erroneous conclusion drawn by the American public that because Doby came second to

4 The Pittsburgh Courrier. July 19, 1947. P. 145 The Cleveland Call and Post. September 6, 1947. P. 8B6 Chicago Defender. May 8 and 22, 1948. P.11

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Robinson, the American League integration should have been easier because Jackie Robinson

brought change to baseball and conditions were no longer harsh for future African-Americans to

integrate.7 In all fairness, the two pioneers endured pretty much the exact same conditions and

Gene Budig argued that many members of the press believed that Doby actually had it harder

than Robinson because he was in the league less accepting of change and integration, the

American League.8

The pair endured multiple indecencies in their surrounding environment: including,

opposing players spitting on them; calls based on their color; Jim Crow conditions in their

respective spring training areas. Along with this there were unfavorable circumstances in their

organizations: where they were forced to eat, sleep, and practice away from their teammates.9

Tygiel states that, following the 1948 triumph in the World Series, Larry Doby seems to have

succeeded in emerging from the shadow of Jackie Robinson as he is characterized as, “the major

league bellwether of the Negro race.”10 Success during the 1948 season and the accolades that

followed shows great promise for recognition of Doby’s career as well as his well deserved place

in the history of the process of integration of Major League Baseball; neither would be quickly

realized. Doby’s spot at the top proved fleeting and Robinson was thrust back into the limelight

in the years that followed, again casting a shadow on the career of Larry Doby.

Satchel Paige stands as another important figure in Major League Baseball’s process of

integration responsible for removing Larry Doby from the limelight received from the

7 Terry Pluto. Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir. P. 1438 Gene A. Budig. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports. P. 139 Marshall Cook & Jack Walsh. Baseball’s Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game. P. 5710 Jules Tygiel. Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. P. 239

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outfielder’s unexpected improvement at the start of the 1948 season. Doby was a key ingredient

in the success of the 1948 Cleveland Indians, who some predicted as a fourth place team helping

propel them in a tight race for the American League pennant. Bill Veeck, continuing his

reputation as a very proactive businessman that would do anything to win and bring a pennant

back to Cleveland, decided to bring in the Negro League veteran, Satchel Paige, near the end of

the season to solidify the Indian’s pitching staff as well as to gain even more publicity in the

form of record setting crowds. Satchel Paige was “baseball’s greatest drawing card”11 as he

filled stadiums to capacity and left countless others on the streets unable to enter to get an

opportunity to see the ancient one in action. In five starts for Paige, the crowds grew to 265,000

fans with the highest figure being a sellout crowd of 78,000 at Municipal Stadium.12

With Bill Veeck’s signing of Satchel Paige, Larry Doby suddenly was no longer the most

popular player in the Indians organization. Rather he was outshone by the most popular player

in all of Major League Baseball. Moreover, the pitcher was a crowd pleaser. Another reason he

was valued over Larry Doby was that Satchel Paige was seen culturally as a “genuine folk

hero”13 as he often imparted little bits of “wisdom”, for lack of a better word, such as his

explanation of step of how to stay young. His age, although a topic of debate, gave him a

veteran status, although he was classified as a rookie pitcher in Major League Baseball.

At the end of the 1948 season, following a remarkable year for Doby, and the entire

Cleveland Indians organization, the team won the American League pennant. This matched the

11 Chicago Defender. August 28, 1948. P. 1112 Atlanta Daily World. September 7, 1948. P. 413 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 51

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Indians up with the Boston Braves in an historic World Series, giving Satchel Paige and Larry

Doby the opportunity to become the first African-American players to win a World Series. In

this series, Larry Doby plays a pivotal role in Cleveland’s victory over Boston with a .318

batting average in the series, multiple hits, and a signature home run against the ever dominant

Johnny Sain. Satchel Paige, on the other hand, only plays in Game Two of the series in the top

of the seventh inning when the game was already lost to the Braves. In spite of the opposite

experiences by the two African-Americans in the World Series, Paige gets more media

coverage.14 The Cleveland Call and Post stated that, “When Lou elected to use Paige, it was in a

sting that meant little to the outcome of the game, although 86,288 fans gave Satch the greatest

ovation an player received during the classic.”15

Larry Doby’s career accomplishments in other areas are likewise diminished for the fact

that he was the second to accomplish a feat. He attempts to be the first African-American

manager by working his way up through many different coaching jobs and making it known that

he is looking for a chance to manage a Major League team. He is turned down multiple times by

the Cleveland Indians and the Montreal Expos until 1979 when he becomes the second African-

American manager being hired again by the ever progressive Bill Veeck for the Chicago White

Sox. Frank Robinson is the first to accomplish this feat in 1975 when he is chosen over Larry

Doby to coach the Cleveland Indians. Doby also becomes the second American player to go

abroad and play professional baseball in Japan. Finally, in more of historical and sentimental

sense, Doby comes in second in the Hall of Fame as he is virtually ignored by the writers

14 Jon Caroulis. Larry Doby: He Played in the Shadow of Jackie Robinson. P. 4915 The Cleveland Call and Post. October 16, 1948. P. 6B

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association until the injustices are revealed far too late. In relation to lots of recent talk about his

place as a pioneer or simply the second person to accomplish something Doby states, “I don’t

think about being second or first. I think about being a part of history…a part of bringing people

together.”16

Better Late Than Never: Hall of Fame

There are multiple accomplishments that Larry Doby achieved during his playing career

that should set him apart as a premier baseball player and a Hall of Fame caliber player in no

man’s shadow. Of these accomplishments, Doby was the first African-American position player

to win a World Series, the first African-American player to hit a home run in the World Series,

the first player to win championships in both the Negro League and Major League Baseball, the

first black player to win a home run title in Major League Baseball, and the first black player to

win the RBI title in the American League.17 He also recorded eight straight twenty or more

home run seasons, as well as an equally impressive 164 errorless game streak.18 Multiple star

players attested to his worth and his meriting a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Of these was

Yogi Berra who not only proclaimed that Doby deserved a spot next to Jackie19 but also claimed

that Doby, “could do everything - hit, run, field, throw.”20 Also chiming in about Doby’s

qualification was Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Joe Black who stated, “Larry Doby was a

16 Marshall Cook & Jack Walsh. Baseball’s Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game. P. 5617 Gene A. Budig. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports. P 1118 Jon Caroulis. Larry Doby: He Played in the Shadow of Jackie Robinson. P. 4819 Gene A. Budig. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports. P 1120 United States Congress. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 108th Congress. P. 15470

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remarkable player. He really could do it all.”21 Unfortunately, as shown previously, there was a

spotlight on Jackie Robinson, blinded others to the accomplishments of Larry Doby. The voters

for the baseball Hall of Fame were especially blinded by Robinson’s achievement. This is

shown even in Cleveland newspapers as focus periodically shifts primarily to Robinson

especially during the 1947 season. Another factor that may have a large influence on Doby’s

career being disregarded by the Hall of Fame is the discrimination in the media especially by

people like Cleveland Press columnist, Franklin Lewis and others like him. Lewis portrays

Doby as “sullen” and “morose” as well as having a false sense of self as a “symbol of the Negro

in his league.”22 This opinion by a member of the media, coupled with his overall quiet

personality, can help to shed a light on why Baseball Hall of Fame voters either forgot about, or

decided to deny Larry Doby entrance based on a general racist and discriminatory pattern of

thinking characteristic of the mainstream culture at that time.

Much time passes before Larry Doby starts to receive credit for his accomplishments.

On significant date is July 5, 1997, fifty years to the day after Larry

Doby was the first to integrate the American League. Up to this point,

he has yet to receive the respect he most definitely deserves for his

accomplishments aside from a being honored before the game on that

day23. With this historic anniversary, Doby is picked to throw out the

first pitch at the 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. These two factors seem to play an

21 Marshall Cook & Jack Walsh. Baseball’s Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game. P. 6222 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 6823 Herald-Journal -July 6, 1997. P. 20

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important role in his much awaited induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. There is

another underlying factor that goes seemingly unmentioned. The current climate of baseball

raises certain questions as to why Larry Doby is remembered and valued. Baseball in 1998 is at

a point where large muscles, big bats, and towering home runs are of the utmost value both for

fandom, attendance, and generally excitement. We later come to know this period in baseball as

the steroid era and many question how our values condoned cheating and artificial enhancement.

In connecting this era to the recognition and respect of Larry Doby’s career, we have to realize

the predominant factor that made Doby an instant fan favorite: his towering homeruns and

tremendous hitting skill. He shows up at training camp in 1948 with improved fielding,

knowledge of the game, and shows power early and often.24 Two of his most famous home runs

occurred in Griffith Stadium in Washington: the first of which coming in 1948 in Griffith

Stadium where the ball flew 450 feet before hitting and being the longest homerun seen since

Babe Ruth played there 26 years prior.25 Doby does it again in 1949 when he hits a 500 foot

towering home run that leaves Griffith Stadium and lands on an adjacent street, becoming at that

time, the longest home run ever hit in Griffith Stadium.26 This obviously is not the main reason

that he is remembered and elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is actually remembered

for his accomplishments and given the respect he deserves. This simply points out the context to

which we remember his legacy and proposes a reason as to why re-introduced into baseball

24 Atlanta Daily World. March 13, 1948. P. 225 Chicago Defender. May 15, 1948. P. 1126 Brad Snyder. Beyond the Shadow of the Senators: The Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and the Integration

of Baseball. P. 264

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history aside from the solution of the 50th Anniversary involving him being the best alternative to

honor since Jackie Robinson is no longer alive at that point in time.

With Larry Doby’s retirement from Major League Baseball in late 1959, he became

eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1966 and remains eligible until 1967 when less than 5% of the

voters picked him to join the ranks of the Hall of Fame unless he would be chosen in the future

by the Veterans Committee. He would have been eligible in 1965 by normal voting rules but the

writers did not vote for Hall of Fame inductees that year. Larry Doby never even got close to

achieving the 75% necessary to join the Hall of Fame. The first vote he was included in, he only

received 2.3%, 7 votes. In his second vote, he only received 3.4%, 10 votes and because of this

his name was taken off the ballot.27 This time period comes and goes as Larry Doby bares the

injustice of his legacy slipping through the cracks of the history of baseball. He is being utterly

forgotten because the voters will not vote him in. An article in 1973 calls for change saying that

there are far too many players that deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame that are being left

out based on extraneous circumstances. The author proposes that a change be made that allows

stars such as the likeness of Larry Doby gain entry to the Hall of Fame in which they obviously

deserve based on performance, character, and historical meaning.28

27 1967 Hall of Fame Voting <http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_1967.shtml>28 Chicago Defender. April 25, 1973. P. 23

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Acceptance: Integration as a process

At the beginning of the 1948 season there were not a lot of

expectations for Larry Doby as he was moved into the outfield. One

very meaningful event occurred at the opening of the 1948 season

when a fan yelled after a strikeout “Loosen up kid! You’re just

another ball player! Forget it!”29 This of course was not the opinion

of the general public but it showed that Doby could relax and show off

his talents because the organization, Bill Veeck, and his manager believed in his future abilities.

Throughout the season things began to change as Larry Doby started to become one of the most

exciting and electric players in the major league. His pure talent and athleticism helped spur the

Indians to a World Series title in which he was instrumental not only with his hitting prowess but

also with spectacular fielding. This of course lead to one of the most famous photographs taken

of Larry Doby during his career. He is caught in an embrace with teammate Steve Gromek that

exemplifies feelings of pure joy as well as personal acceptance free from restrictions of race.

This picture is iconic as it shows that in that moment of joy and celebration, all shreds of race

and segregation are irrelevant. This picture was one of the symbols of the 1948 World Series

and showed promise of the direction of the process of integration for the future. The positive

significance of this photograph should not be underscored for what it really meant to the

Cleveland Indians organization and more importantly to the confidence and acceptance as a

teammate for Larry Doby. This moment was important as it is the earliest nationally publicized

interracial celebration between teammates. This photo challenged popular belief in American

29 The Cleveland Call and Post. April 24, 1948. P. 7B

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society. The social significance of this photograph accomplished what Larry Doby wanted from

fans as well as fellow professionals; to be appreciated for his success and be valued as a person

rather than just a very good athlete. There is a very large difference between fame and

acceptance as a person and this situation helps to set things in motion to help this become a

reality for the future.

Unfortunately for Doby and other players attempting to integrate, this picture was merely

a partial truth. One consequence of this process was that he often would have to have different

living accommodations than his team because he was not allowed to stay in the team hotel

because of his race. He even had a separate hotel in Cleveland, called the Majestic Hotel.30

There is an instance of progress during Doby’s 1947 season in Washington let allowed Larry

Doby to stay and he was noted as the first “race” guest to stay at this hotel.31 This was an

example of hope for the future but there still was a long way to go as many other hotels would

not allow African-Americans to stay. The process of integration and acceptance takes many

steps in his career as Doby gets little credit for being the first person to achieve these different

steps. The process of integration spans far beyond simply breaking the color line. This simple

act of desegregation is merely a preliminary step towards full integration. The American League

was viewed by many members of the press as the more volatile league towards integration

because they were slower to integrate and showed little movement toward the process after

Jackie Robinson’s introduction to the farm teams in 1946.32 In the first start of Larry Doby’s

30 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 5631 The Pittsburgh Courier. July 19, 1947. P. 1432 Gene A. Budig. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports. P 13

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major league baseball career, he needed a glove to borrow so he could play first base. At this

time, tension on the team was so bad that he could not even borrow a glove from a fellow

teammate. In one account, struggling first baseman, Eddie Robinson, refused to lend his glove

to Doby saying, “I wont lend my glove to no nigger.”33 The situation was so bad in fact that

Doby resorted to borrowing a glove from a Chicago White Sox player because he could not get a

glove from a teammate.34 This shows one of the hardships that Larry Doby had to endure like

his predecessor Jackie Robinson as well as the early process of integration stressing how hard it

was for Doby to be struggling while the eyes of a town and the eyes of a nation were on him, and

comparing him to Robinson. Due to his early struggles he did not get nearly the media coverage

that Robinson drew but he still had a tremendous amount of pressure on his shoulders. With the

help of a spectacular 1948 campaign, as well as a genuine World Series celebration picture with

Steve Gromek, Larry Doby effectively takes another step in the integration process to gain

acceptance from the majority of his teammates. Following a very high profile World Series

victory, Larry Doby and his wife made their way back from Cleveland to his hometown of

Patterson, New Jersey where the couple was greeted by a parade in his honor. This parade

further perpetuates the false hope for equality in the near future coupling with the Gromek photo

and the warm reception of people that followed his quick rise to fame in major league baseball.

His holiday of acceptance and equality is short lived when Doby decided to invest in a home in

Patterson, New Jersey. Larry Doby desires to live in more prominent neighborhood as was then

available to him thanks to a more stable and lucrative financial situation. In his attempt to buy a

33 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 5334 Terry Pluto. Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir. P. 152

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house, a petition surfaced to block the Doby’s attempt to buy the house in an all white

neighborhood. Eventually he had to resort to asking the mayor to intervene so that they could

buy this house without opposition.35 This shows how integration was a process and the idea that

the picture with Gromek was the end troubles with race in baseball would be entirely ignorant.

In this step in the process of integration people were willing to accept Larry Doby for the player

he was through his fame, his athletic

brilliance in hitting as well as fielding, and

also the championship he brought to the

team. This is the idea of the amazing athlete

and the people can appreciate the pure

athletic talent but beyond that they are not

ready to further the process. The final goal for Larry Doby was to be accepted as a person. In a

speech to high school athletes in Patterson, New Jersey, Doby shares this idea saying, “fame is a

myth, but being a person is real.”36 This phenomenon was far from becoming a reality and had

to endure man more steps before it could start to become a reality. Another large breakthrough

that was very similar in meaning to the Gromek picture to the process of integration was the

brawl of 1957 when Larry Doby was on the Chicago White Sox. He was brushed back by a

pitch from New York Yankees pitcher Art Ditmar. Normally, Doby conducted himself as a

professional and just ignored all people that tried to hinder his progress, but this time he rushed

the mound and landed a punch on Ditmar, thus starting a brawl in the infield that cleared both

35 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 6736 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 84

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benches.37 In any other situation, it may just receive a small paragraph in the newspaper, but this

was different because it was the first significant interracial fight in sports.38 The fact that the

benches cleared shows a very large step in the acceptance of Larry Doby as a person and as a

teammate. When he joins Cleveland in 1947, there was not quite an opposition, but there was

more of an indifference as the general feeling of the team in a way that they were not going to

help him or have his back in a particular situation, however they were not going to mount a large

moral protest against the situation. This display of comradery in 1957 was a message not only to

Larry Doby of the sincerity and acceptance from his team towards his efforts, but it also sends a

message to the nation that in the eyes of the players these integrated players are considered

fellow human beings rather than being looked at as the freak athlete.

The reality of the situation in Major League Baseball was that the players needed to be

twice as good as everyone else to earn their spot not only to join the major leagues but also to

earn a roster spot.39 This held true not only for Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby but for other

players that were easily good enough from the Negro Leagues and the few other African-

American players lucky enough to join major league baseball during the early process of

integration. This was the idea of the “freak of nature” athlete that was “born” to play baseball.

The idea of the “freak” athlete gave false sense of self to the process of integration. It made the

situation seem a lot more controlled and positive that it actually was. The attendance increases

were not a public revelation towards social equality. It was more like a circus and these players

37 George Vass & Larry Doby. “The Game I Will Never Forget”.38 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 6939 Neil Lanctot. Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. P. 380

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were the main attraction that crowds came from far and wide to see. Chicago sports writers had

a firsthand look at Doby and his mastery of the sport in 1948 coupled with Jackie Robinson’s

continued success. With this, they started campaigning to get the owners of both Chicago

baseball organizations to invest in an African-American player. In May of 1948 the Chicago

Defender cries out for an African-American player stating both the financial and talent based

arguments.40 Massive crowds were coming out to see Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and

attendance skyrocketed with the introduction of Satchel Paige. When the Chicago organizations

still did not have attempt to obtain an African-American player, the Defender again speaks out

more radically asking fans to boycott both the White Sox and Cubs until the racist tendencies are

stopped and they pick up a player like Doby and Robinson.41 It made sense not only for

increasing attendance but for team production. When Paige comes into the major leagues, the

explosion of stadium attendance is documented nationally as he is most sought after player in all

of sports. Through five starts, Paige is credited with selling out five stadiums with attendance

above 265,000 between the five games, and this is not counting the thousands that had to be

turned away because there were no more tickets available.42 This shows the fans feelings toward

both Doby and Paige. They were impressed by the “circus” catches, peculiar antics on the

pitching mound, and stunning base running. It was like a disconnect from reality to watch these

players perform superhuman acts. This allowed the public to be very excited about baseball

while still not accepting the players as human beings, as is shown through real estate opposition

40 Chicago Defender. May 8, 1948. P. 1041 Chicago Defender. June 5, 1948. P. 1042 Atlanta Daily World. September 7, 1948. P. 4

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example in Patterson, New Jersey. This becomes like a modern day example of NIMBY (Not in

my back yard) as the people can choose to go see them whenever they wish but they do not want

these integrated players to be a part of their daily life. These ideals are also present in the 1948

World Series when Satchel Paige is brought into the game in a scenario where the outcome was

already decided. He received an ovation larger than any other player of the series despite the

fact that Larry Doby had played every game up to that point and had played remarkably well.43

The differences in personality of Robinson, Paige, and Doby

Larry Doby was chosen by Bill Veeck to integrate the American League with the

Cleveland Indians because of his similarity in character and background to Jackie Robinson.

The similarities between the two players do not go much further than that background and

overall character. Jackie Robinson was by far the more outspoken and politically active of the

two pioneers. Doby was described as being much gentler, compassionate, and more well-

tempered than Robinson.44 Although they both quickly establish themselves, Doby after his first

spring training and Robinson after his time in the minor leagues, they are governed by different

sets of rules. Once Robinson establishes himself, he becomes what some describe as a “brutal”

player that is very outspoken with umpires, players, and even nationally outspoken through

newspaper columns. Through his establishment as a quality player, Larry Doby remained a very

reserved player under the rules of Bill Veeck: no fighting, do not acknowledge insults, don’t give

43 The Cleveland Call and Post. October 16, 1948. P. 6B44 Gene A. Budig. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports. P 16

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umpires dirty looks for perceived bad calls, and don’t give autographs to white women to avoid

provoking white men for any reason.45 Larry Doby stuck to this policy so strictly that his only

real confrontation was his famous fight in 1957 while with the Chicago White Sox. His quiet

nature probably comes from his experiences with the military where he first consciously

experienced instances of racism and segregation. His defense mechanism for this was to “go

into a shell.”46 Another large difference between these two pioneers is their age coming into

major league baseball. Robinson was a fully mature man at the age of 27, whereas Larry Doby

was just a kid at a normal rookie age of 22.47 They may be similar physically but mentally the

development is quite different. This is another portion of Larry Doby’s career that gets

overlooked especially upon the introduction of Willie Mays. Jules Tygiel writes, “Robinson

established a Negro can make it. Mays established that a young Negro could make it.”48 This

entirely overlooks the contributions of Larry Doby prior to Mays’s introduction into major

league baseball, upon his completion of high school, in 1951. This is a prime example of how

Larry Doby is overshadowed by other talented integration pioneers.

Another personality difference that played a large difference in Doby’s career as well as

how he was seen in Cleveland was Satchel Paige and his crowd pleasing actions and

performances. Paige’s antics were so much different than Doby’s personality. Paige notoriously

continued the lifestyle stereotypical of Negro League nightlife while at the same time getting

45 Terry Pluto. Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir. P. 15046 Jules Tygiel. Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. P. 21447 Terry Pluto. Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir. P. 14748 Jules Tygiel. Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. P. 289

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little discipline or negative media coverage as a result. Somehow Paige was able to achieve all

of the spotlight without any ramification for his actions. When Paige was originally picked up

by the Cleveland Indians during the 1948 season, Doby is excited because he will finally have

someone to share his experience with and prevent the loneliness that plagued him up to that

point. In reality, Paige’s presence only fostered a relationship like that was more like an

acquaintance such as college roommates that just learn to coexist in the same living quarters.

Doby uneasily called Paige his “roomie” and Paige passively called him his “old lady” thus

showing their stark differences in personalities and living styles.49

Out of the Park: Doby after baseball

Upon completion of his playing career, Larry Doby had set lofty goals for his future,

which seem only fitting after all he had accomplished in his still relatively young age. He was

never a man to try and speak out against race as he tried to ignore it as best he could, while being

the best player he could be. The difficult part of his life after baseball is that he could no longer

set people straight or command respect with his play on the field. While he was still in the prime

of his baseball career, he could keep his mind off of things by concentrating on perfecting his

skills and training. Suddenly he realized he could not ignore this racism any longer.50 This

realization leads him to try to find other mediums to diminish the harsh realities of racism and

discrimination in society. His new goal after retiring was to become a manager, and not because

49 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 7750 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 67

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it is a goal of his to become the first African-American man to manage a major league baseball

team, but simply because he believed he could do it and excel at the position based on his

experiences at different positions as a coach in major league organizations.51 He was not

interested in becoming a racial pioneer; his largest wish was to just be a person. Larry Doby

bounced around to different teams and different levels of major league baseball. While coaching

at Montreal he started to let people know around him that his goal was to be a manager and

started to lobby his position and qualifications for a future position at the top level of

competition. He achieved high level coaching jobs with Montreal Expos as well as with his

original team the Cleveland Indians but was continually passed over by the organizations. This

shows another part of the process of integration as he is overwhelmingly accepted by his

teammates during his playing years but into the 1970’s management is reluctant to allow an

African-American manager to run their team. Doby finds that at this time, “All of a sudden my

color looked more important than it really was.”52

Doby spent most of his life in the shadows and was content with not being outspoken

about issues. He only changed this strategy once in his life and this was when he was attempting

to become a manager in major league baseball which ended in many disappointments as well as a

brief stint in which he was given little chance for success with a lackluster Chicago White Sox

team that he leads to 37 wins and 50 losses in the second half of the season. Along with this he

is not only passed over for the Cleveland Indians manager job, in which he had a good

relationship with the personnel but also a reputation for good communication with the players,

51 Joseph Thomas Moore. Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby. P. 13552 The Modesto Bee. July 3, 1978. P. 10

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only to see Frank Robinson become the first African-American manager in Major League

Baseball. Adding insult to injury, Frank Robinson fires the coaching staff including Larry Doby.

After Doby’s brief stint with the Chicago White Sox, Larry Doby would not be given another

chance at managing a Major League Baseball team. Bill Veeck quickly, and without public

announcement, fires Doby and moves on with the organization. As a manager Larry Doby could

not quiet his critics as easily as he could in his playing days, and because of his failings as a

manager Doby reluctantly resorted to an exit from baseball. He had effectively been forgotten

thanks in part to his quiet tendencies, the star power around him, and the perceived lack of

groundbreaking achievements on his resume. It was around this time in his life when the

damage from his bitterness and the discrimination from years of silence really started to eat at

him mentally.53 Because of this experience he was content to revert back to his naturally quiet

nature rather than to lobby for his spot in the baseball Hall of Fame. He decided not to campaign

to be voted into the Hall of Fame because he was afraid it would work against his chance to get

voted in.54 His bitterness starts to take over upon realization that he would not be remembered as

one of the greatest players to play in the major leagues by the writers who vote for the Hall of

Fame. In a conversation with his son asking about his playing days Doby says, “I don’t live for

the past, I live for tomorrow.”55 This shows his disconnect from baseball and the foundation he

had laid for the sport. His forgiveness and refusal to out the players that treated him badly may

have played a part in why he was not as well remembered before the 1990’s because it gave the

appearance that it was easy when Jackie Robinson made it known to everyone around him that it

53 Terry Pluto. Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir. P. 15554 Ian O’Connor. Give Doby Due With Place in Hall. February 199855 Marshall Cook & Jack Walsh. Baseball’s Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game. P. 63

Fauerbach 22

was not easy and that the things he had to endure were unjust. It wasn’t until years later, in the

wake of the era of steroids and home run races that Larry Doby begins to be recognized as a

player who was lost to history, but just as important as his famous contemporaries such as Jackie

Robinson, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, and the ever eccentric Satchel Paige. At this time he

was working as a special assistant to American League president Gene Budig.56 Upon the 50

year anniversary of integration, Major League Baseball wanted to celebrate with the 1997 All-

Star game. Jackie Robinson had been dead for many years by this time so they looked to Larry

Doby who integrated that same year and had just celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first game

with the Cleveland Indian organization. From this moment on, Larry Doby gets national

spotlight and the conversation is opened back up as to why he has yet to be selected to the Hall

of Fame as he was neglected by the writers and has yet to be acknowledged by the Veterans

Committee. This media attention was instrumental in convincing the Veterans Committee of the

injustice to Larry Doby and the history of baseball that he has yet to join the Hall of Fame. He

was quickly selected for his brilliance in the Negro League as well as in Major League Baseball

as the 1998 Veterans Committee Hall of Fame inductee. In his speech he voiced that he was just

happy to live to see himself put into the Hall of Fame57 which shows a passive bitterness for

being forgotten this long yet at the same time actually being happy that he has finally made it and

persevered to the point that he is appreciated for his accomplishments as a person and not just as

an athlete that produced some very good statistics over his career. A few years after he finally

received his historical recognition that he earned and deserved, Larry Doby died at the age of 78.

Throughout his life he maintained the dignity and humility that characterized his career, having 56 Jon Caroulis. Larry Doby: He Played in the Shadow of Jackie Robinson. P. 5057 Baseball Hall of Fame Webpage. < http://baseballhall.org/node/1155>.

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never said an unkind word about the people that were hostile to him throughout his life58, and

thankfully he lived to see that his contributions were eventually valued and his legacy will now

carry on in the way that he deserves to be remembered.

Conclusion

The enduring idea seems to consistently come back to the fact Jackie Robinson was “the”

pioneer that fostered the integration of baseball rather than a collective effort of multiple stars

that included Larry Doby prior to the 1990’s. One specific example of this was the book

Baseball’s Good Guys in which there was a section specifically meant to push Larry Doby up on

the pedestal of integration side-by-side with Jackie Robinson and stressed that his contributions

and experiences were just as important to the furtherance of integration as well as improving race

relations within society. In O’Toole’s summary of his book he leaves out Doby’s name in its

explanation of pioneers of the game and influential figures. It gives all of the credit to the

experience of Jackie Robinson.59 Along with the perception of Jackie Robinson, many other

factors got in the way to distract from the historical significance of Doby’s career such as the

bright stars like Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson upon attempting a career as a

manager. Another large factor that played some role in being ignored by historians is his quiet

and humble nature so he was not constantly making headlines or speaking out against any

injustices. Larry Doby, in a humble fashion like was expected of him contributes this to history

saying, “Baseball has come a long way. If I had something to do with it, I’m proud. My only

58 Elaine Welteroth. Baseball Pioneer Larry Doby Remembered During Memorial Service in New Jersey.59 Andrew O’Toole. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-2002. P. 151

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hope is that this whole world would have come as far as baseball.”60 This shows that he is proud

of his accomplishments as a person and he mainly just wishes, while still holding out hope for

the future, that people would also be proud of and honor his accomplishments. Finally, the main

theme of this paper was to understand that it was not simply the injustices that we know he went

through, as the first to integrate the American League, that make him worthy of a position next to

baseball greats like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio. Rather, the

aim of this essay is to say that Larry Doby was instrumental in furthering the process of

integration through many endeavors and experiences during his playing career as well as during

his life outside of Major League Baseball. Larry Doby sums it up best when he says “You

should forgive, but it just isn’t smart to forget.”61 Thankfully, his legacy has been renewed and

corrected since the 50 year anniversary of the first step of the process of integration in baseball.

Works Cited

Books:

Budig, Gene A., and Bob Costas. Grasping the Ring: Nine Unique Winners in Life and Sports.

Champaign, IL: News-Gazette, 2008. Print.

Cook, Marshall, and Jack Walsh. Baseball's Good Guys: the Real Heroes of the Game.

[Champaign, Ill.]: Sports Pub., 2004. Print.

60 Marshall Cook & Jack Walsh. Baseball’s Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game. P. 5661 Ian O’Connor. Give Doby Due With Place in Hall. February 1998

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Jacobson, Steve. Carrying Jackie's Torch: the Players Who Integrated Baseball-- and America.

Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill, 2007. Print.

Lanctot, Neil. Negro League Baseball: the Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. Philadelphia:

University of Pennsylvania, 2004. Print.

Moore, Joseph Thomas. Pride against Prejudice: the Biography of Larry Doby. New York:

Praeger, 1988. Print

O'Toole, Andrew. The Best Man Plays: Major League Baseball and the Black Athlete, 1901-

2002. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003. Print.

Pluto, Terry. Our Tribe: a Baseball Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Print.

Snyder, Brad. Beyond the Shadow of the Senators: the Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and

the Integration of Baseball. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.

Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. New York:

Oxford UP, 1997. Print.

United States. Congress. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 108th

Congress: First Session. Part II ed. Vol. 149. Google Books. Web.

Magazines from online database:

Bechtel, Mark. "The Next One: After Jackie Robinson, Doby Blazed a Trail of His Own."

Editorial. Sports Illustrated 30 June 2003. SI Vault. Sports Illustrated. Web. 16 Oct.

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2010. <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1029047/

index.htm>.

Caroulis, Jon. "Larry Doby: He Played in the Shadow of Jackie Robinson." Baseball Digest July

1995: 47-50. Google Books. Web.

Vass, George, and Larry Doby. "The Game I'll Never Forget." Baseball Digest Nov. 1973: 69-

71. Google Books. Web.

Welteroth, Elaine. "Baseball Pioneer Larry Doby Remembered During Memorial Service in New

Jersey." Jet 14 July 2003: 48-49. Google Books. Web.

Newspapers:

Atlanta Daily World, July 6, 1947 – October 12, 1948.

Chicago Defender (National edition), July 12, 1947 – April 25, 1973.

"Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search." Google News. Web.

<http://news.google.com/newspapers?

id=geEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k4oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3307,1221549&dq=larry

doby&hl=en>.

O'connor, Ian. "GIVE DOBY DUE WITH PLACE IN HALL." New York News, Traffic, Sports,

Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip - NY Daily News. Web.

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<http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/1998/02/27/1998-02-

27_give_doby_due_with_place_in_.html>.

The Cleveland Call and Post, July 5, 1947 – October 16, 1948.

"The Modesto Bee - Google News Archive Search." Google News. Web.

<http://news.google.com/newspapers?

id=mFY0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=98sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1012,1156430&dq=larry

doby&hl=en>.

The Pittsburgh Courier, July 12, 1947 – April 3, 1948.

The Washington Post, July 6, 1947 – November 26, 1948.

Websites:

"1967 Hall of Fame Voting - Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-Reference.com - Major League

Baseball Statistics and History. Web. <http://www.baseball-

reference.com/awards/hof_1967.shtml>.

"Doby, Larry | Baseball Hall of Fame." Baseball Hall of Fame |. Web.

<http://baseballhall.org/node/1155>.