#100 Larry Doby


Larry Doby 
CF
1947-1959
7 Time All Star
Baseball Hall of Fame

Larry Doby was the first African American player in the American League, making his debut a few months after Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Dodgers in the National League. Doby experienced all the same racial push back that Robinson did in American League cities. Robinson is rightfully still a household name, Doby is not and never really was.  So although his lifetime .283 average and 253 homers might not jump off the page at you, the fact that he accomplished all he accomplished while breaking the color barrier for his league is even more impressive. 

In 1948 his second year in the show (he had previous experience with the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues) Doby held down center field for the World Champion Cleveland Indians (to date their last championship). By 1954 he was a perennial all star and finished 2nd in the MVP voting as Cleveland won what would be their last pennant for 40 years. 

He twice lead the league in homers. He also had a couple of 100 walk seasons, which at the time didn't move the needle but in the OBP obsessed climate we're in would have gotten him paid a little more. 

He went on to a few good years for the White Sox as well as a brief stint in Baltimore and another in Detroit and second trips through Cleveland and Chicago. 

In 1962 2 years after his last MLB game he became one of the first Americans to play in Japan. He stayed in the game as a scout and instructor and became the second black manager in MLB history when he took over the White Sox in 1978. 

Larry Doby's name isn't nearly well known enough as a pioneer or as a player, but he did get his call from Cooperstown in 1998. For a young man who started his pro career at 17 in the Negro Leagues and ended up playing (on a hall of fame level) and managing in the show. It's hard to find a more inspiring ballplayer than Larry Doby. 


Anthony Leonelli is a 37 year old College Baseball Coach and amateur baseball arguer. If you wanna know how this list came together check here criteria. He thinks that George Brett winning batting titles in 3 decades is pretty awesome. 


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