Yet another celebrity

[yendi]

This time, it was Larry Doby.

If you said, "who?" then you're probably not a huge baseball fan.

Larry was the American League's Jackie Robinson. The first black man to play baseball for any American League team (Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians), making his debut just a few months after Robinson. And a damned fine baseball player. Not that I've seen him play anywhere but on ESPN Classic, but he had a sweet swing -- think Jon Olerud, if you only follow the game today. He was as much a pioneer as Jackie, but he's so often forgotten.

He's a Hall of Famer, of course, although he only got there a few years ago (let's hear it for the Veteran's Committee). I'm glad that happened before he died.

Comments

[aussie-nyc.livejournal.com]

I saw him throw out the first pitch at a Newark Bears game a couple of years back. Very long ovation. Nice moment.

[bouncepogo.livejournal.com]

Yay for once I recognized a name in baseball today! (Even though it wasn't about today really, but PFFTT I don't care, it felt good.)

I used to be a huge baseball nut up until the strike in 94. That's when I really lost most if not all my interest in professional sports.

I still followed Cal Ripken's career, but he's gone now too, so I feel kind of removed from today's MLB players and such. Cal was a great man, both on the field and off. Watching him play in Camden Yards was like heaven on earth. Think Field of Dreams. That park is just gorgeous.

[yendi]

I've given up on most professional sports (don't get me started on basketball), but Baseball isn't a sport. It's a Form of Art.

I do have some mixed feelings about Ripkin. He was one of the greats. But The Streak eventually became a living thing that, imho, hurt both his career, and the O's. Although nothing could hurt the O's as much as Peter Angelos.