Pumpsie Green

[GeoPoto]

It could not have been easy being Pumpsie Green in 1959. Lee D. Jenkins, writing in the Chicago Defender after Green’s call-up, lamented the inevitable pressure: “It’s one thing to make a major-league team by sheer talent but to find yourself in a position where you are almost thrust down an unwilling throat makes for a most uncomfortable state. Green was a sensation with the Red Sox during their early spring training but as the season neared the pressure began to tell in his fielding and hitting.”

On the last day of July, Green had a 3-for-4 day, with a triple, and scored three runs. Usually in the leadoff position, he’d also walked seven times in the seven games in which he’d appeared, and held an on-base percentage of .522 after his first week on the job to go with his .313 average. He’d also laid down two successful sacrifice bunts. Green didn’t commit an error until his 16th game.

After the 13-game road trip, it was time for the Red Sox to return home. “Pumpsie Here Tuesday” blared the full-page headline in the Boston Record. “Green does not consider himself a crusader,” the Globe’s Clif Keane allowed, “merely a ballplayer. He does not sound as if he expected any red carpets rolled out for him. He came here to play ball. And from what he and Wilson have shown since they joined the team they can play baseball.”

Boston Celtics basketball star Bill Russell was there to greet Pumpsie when he arrived. They’d known each other since high school. Green also took a call in the Red Sox clubhouse from Jackie Robinson.

“Green Stars as Sox Divide” headlined the Herald sports section. Leading off in the bottom of the first, he was “given a nice hand when he first came to bat.” He later told Scott Ostler, “On my way up to home plate, the whole stands, blacks and whites, they stand up and gave me a standing ovation. A standing ovation, my first time up! And the umpire said, ‘Good luck, Pumpsie,’ something like that.” Pumpsie promptly tripled off the left-field wall, pouring on speed rather than pulling up at second base. He scored on Runnels’ grounder to first. In the seventh, he sacrificed to advance two runners; both scored on Runnels’ single. The Sox never lost the lead and won the first game, 4-1. The Sox lost the second game, 8-6, but Green reached base four times – a single, two walks, and on an error.

Minneapolis manager Gene Mauch predicted great things, saying that Green was “the number one ball player in the American Association, when the Red Sox called him up in July. … He could beat you so many ways … A cinch to make the grade, without any trouble – make it big, too.” Green appreciated Mauch, calling him (in 2009) “the best manager I ever played for.”

He said he felt welcomed by the Sox players. “There were a bunch of good guys on the Red Sox,” he said. “Ted Williams – he would talk to you and give you advice on any matter, even things not about baseball. The whole team was one unit when we walked out on the field. They were supportive of me whenever we played a game.” In the background, though, pitcher Frank Sullivan said, “There were a lot of teammates that had to give up calling Larry Doby rotten names. That also included some coaches.”

Bill Monbouquette remembered an incident with coach Del Baker well. “He used the ‘n’ word, and Mike Higgins used the ‘n’ word, and I told them, ‘I don’t want to hear that,’ and then (Baker) started to give me a bunch of crap, and I said, ‘I’m going to tell you something. I’ll knock you right on your ass. I don’t care if you’re the coach or not.’ I said, ‘You don’t do things like that!’”

Had there ever been a team meeting – perhaps in spring training – where the players were told the team was going to be integrated, and how to handle oneself, perhaps how to handle any newspaper inquiries? Not even close, said Ted Lepcio, “No, just cold turkey.”

Actions can speak louder than words, and Ted Williams stood head and shoulders above the rest of the ballclub in star power. He set the tone from the beginning, not speaking out but clearly signaling his acceptance of Pumpsie, who became his throwing partner before games. “He asked me to warm up with him the first day I came here, and I’ve been warming up with him ever since.” He told Herb Crehan, “He didn’t say anything beyond the invitation to play catch, and it surprised me a little bit. But I understood and appreciated the gesture.”

Green got into an even 50 games, accumulating 172 at-bats, and hit for a .233 average, which his 29 walks boosted to a .350 on-base percentage. His one home run came off Bob Turley in a rout of the Yankees on September 7. He’d already impressed Casey Stengel, going 4-for-5 in a game back on August 10. His average declined over the months, though, from .313 after he arrived in July, to .250 in August, and just .194 in September. Green ended the season going hitless in his final 24 at-bats.

After the season Pumpsie Green was named second baseman on the 1959 Major League Rookie All-Star team, chosen in balloting by 1.7 million Topps gum customers nationally. “Green’s play fell off during the last two or three weeks of the season because he was a tired player,” Jurges said. “I figured he played 260 games last year, counting the winter league, the American Association, and the big leagues. That’s too much ball for a kid.”

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