Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigdaddy
I've thought about this quite often. And Doby was in the AL, playing in parks and cities that Jackie never visited. So even though he was three months later, he still was plowing ground that Jackie had never seen. Not meant at all to diminish what Jackie did, but Larry was right there beside him.
The same could be said for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Neil happened to be the first one down the ladder (and not by happenstance), and those couple of minutes made all the difference in their legacies.
Take a poll and ask who was the second black player in the Majors, or who was the second man on the moon, and most folks won't have a clue.
Being first matters.
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I've also thought about it quite often, and the one factor that always stumps me is the NY aspect of it. Of course, it's entirely conjecture, but does anyone imagine that if Bill Veeck had brought Larry up at the same time Rickey elevated Jackie, their historical significance - not to mention their card values - would be equal today? Or do you think that if the Indians opened their season on a Tuesday and the Dodgers opened on the next day, it would be different today?