Larry Doby Biography

1924-2003

American baseball player

Larry Doby is the invisible man in the struggle to bring black players into major league baseball. For most of his career Doby lived in the long shadow cast by Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play major league baseball. Doby, who joined the Cleveland Indians just eleven weeks after Robinson made his debut with Brooklyn was the second black player to enter the majors. He was the second black, after Frank Robinson, to manage a major league club, he was even the second major league player to play in Japan. Doby can lay claim to a number of important firsts however: he was the first African-American to jump directly from the Negro Leagues into the majors, the first to play in the American League, the first to play on a championship club, the first to hit a home run in the World Series, and the first black home run champion. Doby was also one of the first African-Americans to

Larry Doby

coach at the major league level and to enter the rank of major league executives. Like Jackie Robinson, in realizing these accomplishments Doby had to overcome the ugly racism that was permeated many facets of American life. He did it with courage and dignity. Along the way, Doby proved himself one of the most potent hitters in baseball.