Terry Pluto: 'Imagine being Larry Doby. You were 23. You didn’t know your teammates, they didn’t know you. While you didn’t realize it at the time, you had none of the advantages of Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn.'
Imagine that only 24 hours earlier you had just played a July 4th doubleheader as a member of the Newark Bears in the Negro Leagues. Imagine hearing you had been sold to the Cleveland Indians.who was a member of the Tribe’s public relations department. He took you to the Newark train station. You left New Jersey to join the Tribe as they played the White Sox in Chicago. When you arrived, you learned you couldn’t stay at the team hotel – no people of color were allowed.
When you went to Chicago’s old Comiskey Park where your team was preparing to face the White Sox, you talked to Lou Boudreau. He was the team’s manager.Lou Boudreau was Cleveland's player/manager when Larry Doby joined the team in 1948.Boudreau knew nothing about you, other than hearing that his boss – team owner Bill Veeck – had signed you out of the Negro Leagues. He asked you, “Where do you play?”Boudreau took a deep breath. He had a problem. He also was the team’s All-Star shortstop.
Veeck didn’t want that to happen. He took a chance by signing you out of the Negro Leagues. He wanted to incorporate African-American players into the Majors. His first instinct was to sign the great Satchel Paige, but Veeck feared his peers and the media would consider that another one of his gimmicks.
As the 1948 season approached, the Tribe did what should have been done the year before. They developed a plan for you. They hired retired Hall of Fame center fielder Tris Speaker to teach you how to play the outfield in spring training.
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