O/T Why doesn't MLB Celebrate Larry Doby more?

[tedzan]

Very interesting thread........thought I'd give it a friendly bump by including some pictures.



1948 Cleveland Indians team photo pack (25 subjects).... Larry's 1st pix








1949 LEAF (issued in Summer of 1949) ...... 1949 BOWMAN (issued in the Fall of 1949)

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Very rare 1949 BOWMAN color printing errors (including Doby)





TED Z

T206 Reference
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[Peter_Spaeth]

Ted -- on the Campanella any idea why the gray ones only grade AUTHENTIC? Mine looks factory cut to me.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Ted -- on the Campanella any idea why the gray ones only grade AUTHENTIC? Mine looks factory cut to me.

Peter

Your Campy is most likely a legitimate factory issued card.

However, they are graded "A" because most of the TPG's are ignorant of of what's going on here.

When I collected these 1949 BOWMAN's in my youth, I clearly recall opening 1949 waxpacks with SLATE (or other color error) cards included in them with normal colored cards.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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[pclpads]

Ted - your remembrance that, "Larry was a really friendly guy to meet with and chat and get his autograph," reminded me that when I was on the Padres grounds crew at SD Stadium around '76, he was a coach for Montreal. I gave him his '52T and '57T cards to sign. Very warm memory. Very pleasant man.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Jackie not a HOF'er by the Numbers? by WAR he's 12th all-time at 2b, with the 6th best 7 year peak at the position. He has an MVP and finished top 10 3 other times and was viewed as one of the great defensive 2b of his era if not all time. ROY, 6x All-Star. He's 3rd All-time in 2b OPS, 8th in OPS+. He led the league in OBP once, Batting once (different years) and SB twice. His late start in the majors accounts for his lack of counting stats, but he's clearly one of the 10 best 2b ever and to me that's a HOF'er. Forget the color barrier for a minute his counting stats would've been negatively impacted by his service in WWII also, and that service was commonly accounted for by voters.

[Rookiemonster]

I agree that Larry Doby should have the same type of acknowledgments as Jamie Robinson. But Monte Irvin was supposed to be the first African American baseball player. The Newark Eagles would not allow him the star player to leave.
Willie Mays said that money Irvin was the best baseball player he had seen. And he help mentor Willie Mays when he came in to the league.

[Topnotchsy]

I think the simple answer is that as time goes on, we stop remembering the details, and we focus on the individual symbol. Jackie has become the symbol for the struggle of all those how have been forgotten. Definitely for people who are interested in the history, there are a ton of important names including Doby, Paige, Willard Brown, Campanella and others. I've long felt that Frank Robinson deserved more attention as well being the first black manager.

My collection focuses around Jackie and the integration and for me the story definitely extends to include those players including the '48 Indians team that was the first to feature black players and win the World Series.

Hope no one minds me adding some pics including a signature of the aforementioned Mack Robinson.

[Dewey]

Cool Mack piece!

[z28jd]

I'd like to know why it's referred to still as the color barrier when there were clearly players of color in the majors, many with African blood from Cuba. It was an African-American barrier they broke, but players of color were in the majors for years before Robinson came along. I think those players get lost in the history of the sport when you talk about paving the way.

I also agree on Doby and any other players right after Robinson, because if those players did something "wrong" while fighting back the racism they endured, then who knows how things would have went from there.

A pet peeve of mine is lazy history, such as crediting one person for an event. A great example would be the midnight run of Paul Revere. When you learn the real history of that event, then it looks ridiculous to celebrate just Revere. Major League Baseball takes the lazy route with celebrating the breaking of the color barrier by putting everything on one player when so many other players deserve credit too.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by z28jd

I'd like to know why it's referred to still as the color barrier when there were clearly players of color in the majors, many with African blood from Cuba. It was an African-American barrier they broke, but players of color were in the majors for years before Robinson came along. I think those players get lost in the history of the sport when you talk about paving the way.

I also agree on Doby and any other players right after Robinson, because if those players did something "wrong" while fighting back the racism they endured, then who knows how things would have went from there.

A pet peeve of mine is lazy history, such as crediting one person for an event. A great example would be the midnight run of Paul Revere. When you learn the real history of that event, then it looks ridiculous to celebrate just Revere. Major League Baseball takes the lazy route with celebrating the breaking of the color barrier by putting everything on one player when so many other players deserve credit too.

Lazy history is easier to digest. For example, if you really study Germany in the 1930s, the rise of the Nazi party is a heck of a lot more complicated than just one tyrant.