On Saturday afternoon, my friend and former roommate Christopher Kain I met up at Emerson College in Boston to attend a traveling exhibit from The Negro League Baseball Museum based in Kansas City called "Breaking Barriers - From Jackie to Pumpsie: 1947 to 1959". This event is co-sponsored by the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Public Library.
While even most non-baseball fans know who about Jackie Robinson, Pumpsie Green is a less familiar name outside of Boston. Green was the first African-American player to take the field for the Boston Red Sox in 1959. Sadly, this made the Red Sox the last team in MLB to integrate. Ironically, the Red Sox could have been the first as they held a try out for Robinson in 1945, but never had any intention of signing him nor Sam Jethroe nor Marvin Williams. Of course, Robinson would debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 while Jethroe would debut with the crosstown Boston Braves in 1950 while Williams would finish his career in the Negro Leagues in 1945.
The exhibit covered Robinson and other well-known players who broke the color barrier for other big league teams like Larry Doby, Minnie Minoso, Ernie Banks and Elston Howard. But the exhibit also covered lesser-known players who did the same such as Robert Trice with the Philadelphia A's in 1953, Nino Escalera and Chuck Harmon with the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1954, Tom Alston with the St. Louis Cardinals also in 1954. Hank Thompson broke the color barrier with two different teams - the St. Louis Browns in 1947 and the New York Giants in 1949 along with Monte Irvin. Although their big league careers might have been brief, they made history just the same.
The exhibit runs at Emerson College until August 4th before moving on to Washington, D.C.
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