(Thanks to everybody for the responses.)
There wouldn’t be too many Black men in 1955 who’d want to go to Alabama and join a team named the Rebels. Pumpsie understood that, perhaps as much as anything, the Red Sox wanted their pitcher there, Earl Wilson, to have a roommate with the same color skin. Pumpsie preferred to stay put. The Ports were in first place, and Pumpsie managed to finish the season with Stockton rather than head to Montgomery. He was the shortstop on that year’s All-Star team and was named the California League’s Most Valuable Player, after which, Green later told Danny Peary, the Red Sox gave him a signing bonus of $3,000 to $4,000 and maintained the $300 to $400-a-month salary, fairly standard for the day.
In 1956 Pumpsie went to Boston’s minor-league camp in Deland, Florida, for spring training, and was placed with the Red Sox Single-A affiliate Albany (New York) Senators for the season, playing in the Eastern League under Warren “Sheriff” Robinson.
He hit .274 with Albany and Red Sox general manager Joe Cronin later said that Sox farm director Johnny Murphy “was very high on Pumpsie and urged his advance in the Boston farm system.”
In the spring of 1957, Green and young Black pitcher Earl Wilson both trained with the San Francisco Seals, and in a series of three exhibition games in San Francisco between the Red Sox and the Seals, the Boston honchos had a chance to watch them play. Pumpsie was 0-for-7 with an error, hitting into two double plays. Cronin was not impressed with him as a major-league prospect. He spent most of the season playing under “The Sheriff,” now managing the Double-A Oklahoma City Indians (Texas League).
Playing in the Texas League was not without its problems. Texas and Oklahoma weren’t as bad, but one of the league teams was the Shreveport (Louisiana) Sports. “When the team went to Shreveport,” Pumpsie said, “I didn’t go, because they didn’t allow blacks to play in Louisiana. So I had a three- or four-day vacation.” Green amassed 519 at-bats in 1957, hitting for a .258 average. Starting on September 9, he was promoted to San Francisco, but appeared in only nine games (and never faced his hometown Oaks). Green was 11-for-33 in PCL play.
His 1957 work was sufficient to help him move up to the new top team in Boston’s minor-league system, the Minneapolis Millers. As of June 1958, every other major-league team had integrated. Green emphasized that he really felt little pressure as he moved up through the Red Sox system. “I was confident because I didn’t skip two or three minor-league levels at a time, but moved up gradually. I always was comfortable because I kept seeing the same players on the way up.”
Don Buddin’s shortstop play was being mocked in Boston, but most baseball people thought Green remained a year or two away. The Millers played a June 16 exhibition game and beat the Red Sox with Green leading off and going 3-for-5 with a double, a bases-clearing triple in the fifth inning, and—batting left-handed—a single to left field. The Red Sox hadn’t had an “every day” switch-hitter since Jack Rothrock in the early 1930s.
Green hit .253 for the 1958 Millers – essentially the same average as the prior year but at the higher level of play. He showed versatility in playing several positions, infield and outfield, but he still had by no means convinced the Red Sox that he was ready for the majors. Pumpsie batted 5-for-12 to help win the American Association playoffs, with three runs batted in and four runs scored. On September 21, the day after the playoffs, Pumpsie Green was added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster – a move the Sox were compelled to take rather than risk losing him (he’d now been in their system for four years) in the coming player draft.
That fall, Pumpsie went to Panama to play winter ball with the Azucareros Sugar Kings and the “flashy young Negro shortstop” reeled off a 19-game hitting streak. The Azucareros won the league flag, with Pumpsie hitting .356. He led the team in the Caribbean Series, batting .306.
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