Larry Doby was a professional baseball player from 1942 to 1962. He was known for starting his career with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League and making his way to MLB as the second black player to break baseball's retired colour barrier, which caused racial segregation until 1947.
Doby was a New Jersey native, starting his career with the Eagles as a 17-year-old. He had then joined the United States military as a member of the Navy during World War II, side-lining his plans for professional baseball until 1946.
After completing his military services, Doby returned to baseball and led the Eagles to win the Negro League World Series. His outstanding capabilities would assist his leap to MLB levels three months after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's colour barriers by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Doby made history with the move, becoming the first player to go directly to MLB from the Negro leagues and the first African American to play in the American League after signing with the Cleveland Indians in 1947. He was a driving force that took the Indians to two World Series championship games in 1947 and 1954, winning the series in 1947, which still stands today as the organisation's last World Series win. He would earn seven MLB All-Star appearances, breaking down another barrier and becoming the second Black manager in league history for the Chicago White Sox in 1978.
Although Doby is referred to as the second player to break the colour barrier, his journey was not any easier than Robinson's, who laid the groundwork for his arrival and many other players from the Negro Leagues. Robinson spent a year in MLB's minor league systems for a full year with the Montreal Royals, who played in the International League. Robinson led the team to a Junior World Series title before making the jump.
Doby did not have the luxury of gradual development, pushing his jump directly to the majors. During that time, he had to face the same hatred, bigotry, and death threats that Robinson dealt with while also having less of an outcry for support as a less popular name who flew under the radar in comparison.
Bill Veek, the former owner of the Indians organisation, signed Doby to a contract with the team on July 1947. Doby recollected not being welcomed by his teammates to the point where he would have to get a first basemen's mitt from the opposing team because none of his teammates would help him with one and having to rely on his mental toughness to get him through the season.
"I knew it was segregated times, but I had never seen anything like that in athletics. I was embarrassed. It was tough," said Doby during an interview in 2022.
The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Doby in 1998, who joined Cooperstown alongside Don Sutton, Lee MacPhail, George Davis, and Joe Rogan. "It is a tough thing to look back at the history at things that are probably negative," Doby said in his Hall of Fame Induction speech by the Post-Star. "But I'm proud of the role that I played in the integration of baseball. If you would have told me 50 years ago that I would be standing here, I wouldn't have believed you."
Doby, who battled cancer during his Hall of Fame induction, passed away in 2003 at the age 79.
