Up on the blog today, we spotlight a card from my "1960 Career-Cappers" set released a couple of years ago, the 1960 "career-capper" for Hall of Famer Larry Doby:
Doby
began his career in the Negro leagues between 1942 and 1947 before
becoming the first African-American player in American League history in
1948 with the Cleveland Indians.
He would not disappoint the
Cleveland faithful as he would help the team become a powerhouse, even
if they kept falling behind the New York Yankees throughout the 1950's.
He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.
He'd
lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while
leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five
seasons he'd top 100.
Never given enough praise for his
ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut
just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history
getting more and more attention as time passes.
Thankfully, he
was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been
selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion,
but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at
the age of 79.