The forgotten Hero

Today started out as any other in terms of my daily routine. I woke up to sports center, had my breakfast of champions and headed off to the gym. An intense workout which included a full shoulder work over, some abs and an hour of cardiovascular with my ear phones tuned into...well sports center of course! I am always looking for THE story, and you never know when and where it will all unfold. So I get my day heading in the right direction as I prepare to meet up with my old buddy Rashad Reed, in town for a wedding and always game for a sports showdown meeting of the minds. So Rashad and I drive over to the local boys and girls club and pick up my 11 year old son Jordan and take the 70 west in to Kansas City, toward 18TH and Vine. There we reach our destination, a hallowed hall if there ever was one, the Negro Leagues Museum. The Negro Leagues was started as an alternative competitive baseball league for blacks not allowed to compete in the Major Leagues due to their skin color and ethnicity. What we stumbled upon once there, was one of the most moving and seldom mentioned stories in the history of the color barrier being broken in American sports.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson was that barrier breaker, spearheading change when racism was very prevalent in society at the time. Although the racial barrier being broken was that of playing baseball, it proved how powerful sports plays it's role in American culture. Quietly however as time has passed and the dust continues to settle over some lost history, I stood all amazed at a forgotten hero. Lawrence Eugene "Larry" Doby. Larry Doby as he was known, was the second black player to play in the modern major leagues and the first to do so in the American League. Doby started his career as a second baseman for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues. After helping to break the color barrier, Doby was signed by the Cleveland Indians were he played center field and was voted to seven all-star games. Among Doby's many accomplishments include helping the Cleveland Indians to their 1948 World Series championship over the Boston Braves. In game four of that fall classic, Larry Doby became the first black player to hit a home run in a World Series. In 1954 Doby finished second in the American League MVP voting, while helping the Indians to win 111 games and the American League pennant.

For all of Doby's accomplishments and contributions, little is written about the discrimination he faced, just as Jackie Robinson was suffering through the same. As a matter of fact, the abuse Doby experienced cannot be comprehended by mere words or understood by the masses save for Robinson himself. Coincidentally, Larry Doby also became the second black manager in the major leagues after Frank Robinson, another seldom documented leap for the black athlete courtesy of Doby himself. Larry Doby would served two years in the Navy during his stint in the Negro Leagues, making for more misplacement of judgment by society of the day. A black man could serve his country in war, but not play baseball with the white man once back home. Still through it all, Larry Doby maintained his humility and was as honorable a man that has ever represented his people. Even in 1997 when major league baseball honored Jackie Robinson by retiring his number 42 throughout the league, Larry Doby was virtually ignored. Sports Illustrated noted that Doby had to suffer through all the same indignities Robinson endured, and with nowhere near the media attention and implicit support.

Larry Doby was inducted in to the baseball hall of fame in 1998, and was recognized for the great player that he was, but not necessarily for the great man that he had to be for change to take place. Doby passed away June 18, 2003 at the age of 79. Now gone and often forgotten, let us all in death, pay homage to a man that was cheated in life of his rightful due. Larry Doby was a trailblazer and a hero and on this day I am proud to say I knew of him, and like many who came before me, I am a better man for it.

By Ephraim vega
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