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Cleveland baseball legend Larry Doby remembered 78 years after groundbreaking achievement
Larry Doby broke the American League's color barrier 78 years ago today, on July 5, 1947.
It was just a few months after Jackie Robinson first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League.
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Playing for the Cleveland Indians, the outfielder Doby visited each AL city as the first Black man to ever play in games at those stadiums, in an era well before inter-league play.
Doby's national legacy is a bit muted because Robinson was first to MLB, but Doby surely endured many of the same stresses and hate that Robinson did.
Along the way, Doby was one of the best players in baseball.
He didn't join Cleveland until he had played four seasons in the Negro Leagues and also served in the Navy in World War II.
Even with the late start, Doby made nine All-Star Games and won two World Series. He's a Hall of Famer.
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He batted .288 in his career. That included 273 home runs, 1,099 RBI and 1,697 hits.
Late in his career, Doby also suited up for the White Sox and Tigers.
His decade in Cleveland is where he was a baseball trailblazer, and a superstar.
And on Larry Doby Day, July 5th every year, Doby is remembered, maybe not on as quite as wide a scale of Robinson, but deserving every bit of a legendary legacy in his own right.
MORE: The enduring legacy of Jackie Robinson Day
