Larry Doby

High school

Eastside High School

Pro team(s)

Newark Eagles, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox

Hall of Fame

⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame

Lawrence Eugene Doby was born on December 13, 1923, in Camden, South Carolina, and moved to Paterson, New Jersey at age eight after his father's death. He attended Eastside High School in Paterson — the same school that would later become famous as the setting for the 1989 film "Lean on Me" — where he excelled in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track. He played with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League beginning in 1942 before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. On July 5, 1947 — just eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the National League — Bill Veeck of the Cleveland Indians signed Doby to become the first Black player in the American League. Unlike Robinson, Doby received no gradual minor league preparation: he went from the Negro Leagues directly to the majors. The integration of the AL brought the same hatred and indignities as Robinson endured, yet Doby absorbed it with a quieter resolve that history has taken too long to fully acknowledge. He became the heart of the Cleveland Indians — a two-time American League home run champion (1952, 1954), seven-time All-Star, and the centerfielder on the 1948 Cleveland team that won the World Series. His home run in Game 4 of the 1948 Series tied the game and turned the momentum of Cleveland's championship. Doby had a career batting average of .283 with 253 home runs over 13 seasons. He later became the second Black manager in MLB history when he led the Chicago White Sox in 1978. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. Grew up in Paterson, New Jersey.