Larry Doby Day!!!

If you woke today feeling a let-down after a successful July 4^th, shake off that frown and brighten up – It’s Larry Doby Day!

Although not an official holiday, for many Americans, July 5, 1947 can be seen as another Independence Day.

On that day 78-years ago, Negro League All-Star, Larry Doby officially eliminated the color-barrier in the American League by joining the then Cleveland Indians (now The Guardians).

Doby’s signing was 11-weeks after that of Jackie Robinson, who started the 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers and by doing so became Major League Baseball’s first Black player. However, the significance of the longtime Paterson, N.J. resident signing a day after Americans celebrated our freedom from a majestic England can now be seen as arguably as big a statement as the Robinson signing.

By integrating America’s biggest sport of the time, Doby confirmed that Robinson signing was not just a one off, but instead the beginning of a new era of American inclusion that would chart the path towards a more progressive union in the streets and on the ballfield.

Both must be revered as not just historic athletes but also Civil Rights pioneers.

Unlike Robinson’s path, which began in 1945 when he was signed and sent to a Montreal’s minor league team in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm system, Doby’s contract was purchased from the Newark Eagles, the 1946 Negro League World Champions. An All-Star in the Negro Leagues, Doby’s new contract with the Cleveland Indians made him a professional major leaguer immediately and set the standard for the contracts signed by the other former Negro League players who followed.

The momentous signing was the second historic signing of a Black baseball player in the year and further opened the door for the integration of professional sports.

Newark Eagles owner Effa Manley called Doby in the early morning hours of July 3, 1947 to inform him of his historic change of team. Doby, who was expecting to play in a double-header the next day, learned his contract had been bought by the Cleveland Indians of the American League and he was expected to join the team in Chicago on July 5, 1947.

Born in Camden, South Carolina in 1923, Doby moved to Paterson, N.J. just prior to his freshman year of high school. The 14-year-old enrolled at Paterson East Side High School and became a four-sport athlete. Playing in the shadow of the Negro League’s Hinchliffe Stadium Doby blossomed into a star in football, basketball, baseball and as a broad jumper in track.

Doby tried out for the Newark Eagles during a walk-on tryout in 1942 and became a fixture. Batting .400 as an 18-year-old, unknown, high school student, Doby was given the alias of “Larry Walker” in those early years.

The rookie sensation was signed to the team for $300, under the alias which was necessary so that his new pro-status would not endanger a collegiate scholarship for basketball at Long Island University. He later transferred to HSBC Virginia Union

While attending college and playing professionally under his alias, Doby was drafted into the Navy in WWII in 1943 and was sent for training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station outside of Chicago, Ill., eventually becoming a Navy Physical Education instructor.

During his time in the Navy, Doby was segregated from the white sailors, as all Blacks were, but was able to get the attention of the training station’s all-white baseball team. Doby’s play made enough waves, that white sailors were known to secretly wish he could play on the white team. One white player, who was a Major Leaguer actually wrote the owner of the Washington Senators and urged him to make history in the Nation’s capital by bringing on Doby.

Doby’s time in the Navy ended in the spring of 1946 and when he returned to the Newark Eagles, he dropped the alias and playing as “Larry Doby” for the first time in his professional career. The Newark Eagles went on to win the Negro League World Championship that year.

Cleveland’s owner Bill Veeck, the son of legendary Chicago Cubs owner William Veeck, purchased the Indians on June 22, 1946. Known as an innovator and showman, Veeck was known for attention-grabbing stunts like sending a 3-foot 7-inch person of small stature to bat in a pro-game and launching fireworks from the scoreboard for entertainment. Deciding to sign Doby was a daring move in the segregated Major Leagues, but Veeck’s often joked a decision bigger than integration was whether to play the gifted Doby in the outfield or the infield. He called the owner of the Newark Eagles on July 1, 1947 and offered to purchase Doby’s contract for $10,000.

After being informed on July 3, 1947 about his place in history, Doby was honored by his former team during his last Negro League game on July 4, 1947. He won that game for the Eagles with a long homerun in the 6^th inning.

Confronted by racism from teammates and opponents alike, Doby’s 1947 campaign was anemic with a batting average of just .156. Things changed the next year when he helped Cleveland win its first pennant in 28-years. With an impressive 7-22 or .318 batting average in the 1948 World Series, Doby was able to help Cleveland beat the Boston Braves for the World Championship, the first by an integrated team in history. He also made history by being the first Black player to ever hit a homerun in the World Series.

Cleveland has not won another since that history making 1948 team. His historic run is a significant milestone and pre-dated Jackie Robinson’s first World Series win in Brooklyn in 1955.

Doby went onto be named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, served as the game’s second Black manager for the Chicago White Sox and later served as director for the New Jersey Nets.

However, his signing in 1947 forever kicked open a door that would never close again, and as they say: the rest is history.

So, shoot off all of your remaining sparklers today.

July 5^this a big deal too!

We proudly proclaim it Lawrence Eugene Doby Day!!