Larry Doby

Larry Doby
Doby with the Indians in 1953
Center fielder / Manager
Born: (1923-12-13)December 13, 1923 Camden, South Carolina, U.S.
Died: June 18, 2003(2003-06-18) (aged 79) Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
Batted: Left Threw: Right
Professional debut
NgL: 1942, for the Newark Eagles
MLB: July 5, 1947, for the Cleveland Indians
NPB: June 30, 1962, for the Chunichi Dragons
Last appearance
MLB: June 26, 1959, for the Chicago White Sox
NPB: October 9, 1962, for the Chunichi Dragons
MLB statistics
Batting average	.288
Home runs	273
Runs batted in	1,099
Managerial record	37–50
Winning %	.425
NPB statistics
Batting average	.224
Home runs	10
Runs batted in	35
Teams
Negro leagues Newark Eagles (1942–1944, 1946–1947) Major League Baseball Cleveland Indians (1947–1955) Chicago White Sox (1956–1957) Cleveland Indians (1958) Detroit Tigers (1959) Chicago White Sox (1959) Nippon Professional Baseball Chunichi Dragons (1962) As manager Chicago White Sox (1978)
Career highlights and awards
NgL All-Star (1946) 7× All-Star (1949–1955) Negro World Series champion (1946) World Series champion (1948) 2× AL home run leader (1952, 1954) AL RBI leader (1954) Cleveland Guardians No. 14 retired Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1998
Election method	Veterans Committee

Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black player in the American League. A native of Camden, South Carolina, and three-sport all-state athlete while in high school in Paterson, New Jersey, Doby accepted a basketball scholarship from Long Island University. At 17 years of age, he began his professional baseball career with the Newark Eagles as the team's second baseman. Doby joined the United States Navy during World War II. His military service complete, Doby returned to baseball in 1946, and along with teammate Monte Irvin, helped the Eagles win the Negro League World Series.

In July 1947, three months after Jackie Robinson made history with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Doby broke the color barrier in the American League when he signed a contract to play with Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians. Doby was the first player to go directly to the majors from the Negro leagues. A seven-time All-Star center fielder, Doby and teammate Satchel Paige were the first African-American players to win a World Series championship when the Indians took the crown in 1948. He helped the Indians win 111 games (second-best in MLB history at the time) and the AL pennant in 1954, finished second in the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award voting and was the AL's RBI leader and home run champion. He went on to play for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Chunichi Dragons before his retirement as a player in 1962.

Doby later served as the second black manager in the majors with the Chicago White Sox, and in 1995 was appointed to a position in the AL's executive office. He also served as a director with the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 by the Hall's Veterans Committee and died in 2003 at the age of 79.