Ozzie Virgil the last of baseball's Men of Summer.

[Casey2296]

(from the SF Chronicle)

The Men of Summer are gone now, all but one.

Of the 18 Black and Hispanic players who integrated the original 16 teams of Major League Baseball, from Jackie Robinson in 1947 to Pumpsie Green in 1959, only one of those pioneers is still with us.

Ozzie Virgil is hanging in there. He integrated the Detroit Tigers in 1958. Virgil is 92 and living in the Dominican Republic.

The deaths of Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda, and the recent game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., to honor Negro Leaguers — Mays among them — were reminders that we’re running out of time to salute the men who broke into MLB back when it was as American as apple pie served at a segregated lunch counter.

Virgil is the last man standing in this exclusive club. On June 6, 1958, he became the first man of color to play for the Detroit Tigers, the second-to-last team to integrate. The Tigers were on the road at the time, and when they returned home 11 days later, Detroit was in turmoil over Virgil breaking the team’s color barrier.

“In the first game I played at Briggs Stadium, I went 5-for-5,” Virgil said in a recent phone conversation.

Some guys can handle pressure.

Virgil’s life story is quietly remarkable, but first a few words about the Men of Summer. Jackie Robinson, for all his courage and strength, didn’t cure baseball of racism. Oakland’s Pumpsie Green, the last of the 18 integrators, told me years ago that the first two pitches he saw in the big leagues were at least a foot outside and were called strikes.

When Larry Doby integrated the American League in July 1947, the nervous rookie was given a tour of the clubhouse, receiving introductions to his new teammates. Three of them refused to shake Doby’s hand.

Doby was penciled in at first base, which he hadn’t played since high school, so a club official asked Indians first baseman Eddie Robinson, a Texan, if he would loan Doby a mitt. Robinson refused, then finally gave in, but quit the team on the spot — though he quickly reconsidered and remained with the team.

Each of the 18 pioneers had a different story, but Virgil’s provides a glimpse into those times. In one respect, he endured more than any of the others, since his arrival in Detroit was greeted with animosity by whites and Blacks.

Virgil was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York City with his family when he was about 15. After serving in the Marines during the Korean War, Virgil was signed by the New York Giants in ’53 after a scout saw him playing sandlot ball.

Virgil broke into the big leagues in ’56 with the New York Giants, a team that had integrated in ’49, and he became the first MLB player to hail from the Dominican Republic. (With the recognition belatedly given to the Negro Leagues, pitcher Pedro San was the first Dominican big-leaguer when he pitched for the Cuban Stars-East in 1926-28.)

Traded to the Tigers after the ’57 season, Virgil hit Detroit as the epicenter of a storm not of his making. A Black newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, had been amping up protests over the Tigers’ failure to integrate, a full decade after Robinson broke the barrier. Separately, a Detroit reverend organized a committee to boycott the Tigers. The newspaper and the boycott committee clashed, and were still clashing after Virgil joined the team from the minors.

His arrival did not satisfy everyone. Many whites were against integrated baseball, and many Blacks didn’t consider the Dominican-born Virgil’s arrival as real integration.

“They wanted one of their own,” Virgil would say years later. “It was hard being ignored by both the white people and the African Americans.”

When I talked to Virgil, the phone connection was poor and his voice was weak, but it seemed that the years may have taken some edges off painful memories.

“I was caught in between,” Virgil said, laughing softly. “The American Negro didn’t accept me as a Negro, they accepted me as Dominican. That was kind of funny. But I didn’t care what they called me, I didn’t care. Black, Negro, Dominican, whatever they called me was fine with me.”

I asked Virgil whether his Tigers teammates supported him.

“Some of them did, and some of them did not,” he said. Tigers Hall of Famer “Al Kaline was a great, great, great guy, best player they ever had. He supported me when I first came over there.”

Even through the ’60s, Virgil faced discrimination in housing and dining during spring training in Arizona and Florida.

“We managed,” he said.

Virgil was a journeyman player, but he was universally acclaimed as a great teammate and a superior baseball mind. After nine seasons, finishing his career with the San Francisco Giants, Virgil coached for 19 seasons, including two stints with the Giants, 1969-72 and ’74-75.

“He’s a wonderful man,” Felipe Alou told me recently. Alou was the first Dominican-born regular player in MLB; he and his two brothers played for the Giants when Virgil was coaching.

“He taught me a lot,” Alou said. “About racism, how to behave and where to go, and also about playing the game. Being patient. Very good teacher. Incredible man. Good citizen. Good ambassador for our country, too. They love him in the Dominican.”

Virgil said his health is not good, as he is dealing with a heart issue. He is confined to his home and isn’t involved in baseball anymore, although “I stay in touch.”

The last Man of Summer remembers fondly his time with the Giants.

“Say hello to the San Francisco people,” Virgil said.
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Along with Virgil here is the rest of the list, post em' if you got em'.

Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Hank Thompson, Willard Brown, Monte Irvin, San Jethroe, Minnie Minoso, Carlos Bernier, Bob Trice, Ernie Banks, Tom Alston, Chuck Harmon, Carlos Paula, Elston Howard, Chico Fernandez, Pumpsie Green.
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