50 years ago

[9RoyHobbsRF]

(07-20) 18:19 PDT -- Pumpsie Green spent six seasons in the minor leagues, ignoring the racism and the everyday insensitivity that was part of baseball in the integration era of 1947-59.

Now Green was getting his shot at the big leagues, but suddenly the rules had changed.

It was July 22, 1959, 50 years ago Wednesday. The Boston Red Sox called up the Oakland native from the minors two days earlier. He was getting his first start (he pinch-ran the day before), against the White Sox at Comiskey Park.

Green was the first black man to play for the Red Sox, the last of the 16 major-league teams to integrate. Pitching for Chicago was Early Wynn, a fastballing headhunter who would win the Cy Young Award that season.

"That was the worst at-bat in major-league history, and I can attest to that," says Green, now 75 and living in El Cerrito. "They put me in the lineup and I was scared to death, because the guy pitching was Early Wynn, and I'd heard of him before. Big Early Wynn. The only thing I didn't want to do was strike out."

The first pitch was a mile outside. "Stee-rike!" called umpire Bob Stewart, himself a rookie, promoted to the American League earlier that month.

Green, relaxing in a cafe next to the Berkeley YMCA where he works out at least five days a week, holds his hands 18 inches apart to show how far outside the pitch was.

"I thought it was a pitchout," Green says.

Maybe the ump was respecting the great Wynn, Green thought.

Second pitch, same spot, called strike.

The 0-2 pitch was way outside, too, but Green poked it to the second baseman.

"That (strange strike calls) happened the whole night," Green says. "I'm saying to myself, 'If that's going to be the order of the day in the big leagues, then I might as well leave now and go back to (Triple-A) Minneapolis.' "

Legacy of intolerance
That particular problem didn't surface again. Pumpsie Green (nobody calls him his given name, Elijah) played four seasons with the Red Sox and one with the New York Mets. A modest career, but he was a pioneer.

Integration-wise, the Sox were a tough nut to crack. Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 but he was three years retired when Green got his shot. It was all part of what current Red Sox President Larry Lucchino refers to as the Red Sox's "undeniable legacy of racial intolerance."

Ask Green if he's proud of being a pioneer, he thinks a moment and says, "Now I am. Yeah, I am. Back then, I learned to put (the pioneering role) out of my mind, ignore race issues. 'I will ignore you (tormentors). I will not let you know that I know that you're right there.' "

Green laughs and says, "This one big fat guy used to call me everything under the sun. It was in San Antonio (Double-A ball); he sat right behind our dugout. I was the only black on the team. He talked about my whole family, and relatives, Africa, and everything. And I mean loud, so everybody in the park could hear him.

"Truthfully speaking, he bothered the people around me and my teammates more than he bothered me, because I had heard all this stuff before. ... The more he talked about me, the harder I hit the ball. He helped me raise my batting average 20 points."

Green refused to consider himself personally persecuted.

"It was every black, not just me," Green says. "So that was the only solace I had. 'It's not just you, Pumpsie, it's all blacks.' "

Contract bought from Oaks
Robinson's breakthrough in 1947 hadn't had much impact on Green, who was 13 at the time. His loftiest dream was to play for the hometown Oakland Oaks of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Green grew up in Richmond, played ball at El Cerrito High and Contra Costa College, and in 1953, the 19-year-old signed with the Oaks, who sent him to their Single A team in Wenatchee, Washington.

The Red Sox bought Green's contract from the Oaks in 1955 and had Green to report to Montgomery, Ala., a city that was Ground Zero for civil-rights violence. Green refused, telling his white manager, "Do you know what's going on in Montgomery, Alabama?"

So the Red Sox sent Green to Albany, and four years later, he seemed primed to make the jump to the big leagues. The Red Sox trained in Scottsdale, Ariz., but when Green rolled into team headquarters, the Safari Resort, he was denied a room. The entire town was restricted. Blacks had to be out of Scottsdale by sundown.

Green was directed to the Hotel Adams in Phoenix, 17 miles away. He didn't mind. The Giants stayed at the Adams, so Green would hang with Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and other black players.

Various civil-rights organizations were exerting pressure on the Red Sox to integrate, and were meeting stiff resistance. The Red Sox did not employ a black person, not even as a janitor or peanut vendor. Manager Pinkie Higgins, close pals with the Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, told one sportswriter, "There'll be no n- on this ballclub as long as I have anything to say about it."

Tension hung in the air, and Green reacted by tearing up spring training. He was the hottest Sox player in camp and it was widely assumed he had made the team. Instead, he was sent back to Minneapolis.

"Pumpsie Green is just not ready," Higgins told the press.

NAACP protests
Green found himself at the center of a storm, hounded by the media and courted by civil-rights groups. They wanted him to express his outrage, but Green knew that would hurt his chances.

"It was just something to write about, to holler about, to scream about," he says. "All the NAACP people called me, asked me a lot of questions. Everybody called, and after everybody called, some more people called. I wouldn't take the calls because I didn't have anything to say."

The Boston NAACP chapter termed Green's demotion "outrageous," and organized protest pickets at Fenway Park.

Green spoke with his bat and glove. He tore up the American Association. When a Boston columnist asked Higgins if Green might be called up to bolster the infield, Higgins called the writer a "n---- lover" and spit tobacco juice on him. Higgins was fired in early July (he would be rehired before the '60 season) and three weeks later, Green was called up.

His transition was eased by two Hall of Famers, Ted Williams and Bill Russell.

One delicate question was who would play catch with Green before games. Normally, infielders paired with infielders, outfielders with outfielders - but Williams made it a point to warm up with Green every day.

Russell and Green knew one another from their East Bay days. Russell, three seasons into his Celtics career, gave Green helpful advice and counsel, and made the rookie a regular dinner guest at his home.

Green had no social contact with white teammates outside the ballpark. He would hang with the black players on whatever team the Sox were playing. In Green's five seasons in the major leagues, not one white teammate ever said, "Hey Pumps, let's go get a beer."

Section for black fans
His first game at Fenway Park, Aug. 4, was a major event. Fenway didn't get many black fans then, but for that game, they turned out en masse. Few tickets were available, so Sox management roped off a large section of center field for hundreds of standing-room fans, all of them black.

"They wanted to come in and see this guy," Green says. "Boy, they yelled and screamed and hollered."

Top of the first, Green was the pivot man on a 5-4-3 double play, digging the third baseman's wild throw out of the dirt.

"It seemed like I was lightheaded," Green says, "because they were screaming and hollering. Boy, I just don't know. So I went and got my bat (he was leading off), and on my way up to home plate, the whole stands, blacks and whites, they stand up and give me a standing ovation. A standing ovation, my first time up! And the umpire said, 'Good luck, Pumpsie,' something like that."

Green worked the count to 2-1 against the Kansas City A's John Tsitouris.

"So he came in there with a slider out over the plate. I put a good swing on it and I hit the s- out of it, and the ball went high off the left-centerfield fence and I slid into third base with a triple. And the people, especially the people in center field, they went absolutely out of their minds."

Green's speech slows.

"It seemed like it was just so loud."

He pauses.

"That was it. That was some kind of breaking in."


The Green file
Name: Elijah Jerry Green

Born: Oct. 27, 1933, in Oakland

Family: Married wife Marie in 1957. They have a son, Jerry, a daughter, Heidi, and a granddaughter, Brittany.

His brothers (all younger): Credell, Travis (deceased), Cornell, Eddie Joe. Credell played one season at running back for the Packers. Cornell was a defensive back for the Cowboys for 13 seasons, named to five Pro Bowls.

His mother: Gladys is 95 and still lives in the house he bought his parents when Boston bought his contract from Oakland in '55 and he received $7,500.

After baseball: After the major leagues, Green played three more seasons in the minors. He returned to the East Bay and for 20 years, he worked for Berkeley High as a baseball coach and student supervisor.

Integrating the majors
Each team's first black player

1947


-- Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson (April 15)

-- Cleveland Indians, Larry Doby (July 5)

-- St. Louis Browns, Hank Thompson and Willard Brown (July 17)

1949


-- New York Giants, Hank Thompson

1950


-- Boston Braves, Sam Jethroe

1951


-- Chicago White Sox, Minnie Minoso

1953


-- Philadelphia Athletics, Bob Trice

-- Chicago Cubs, Gene Baker and Ernie Banks

1954


-- Pittsburgh Pirates, Curt Roberts

-- St. Louis Cardinals, Tom Alston

-- Cincinnati Reds, Nino Escalera

-- Washington Senators, Carlos Paula

1955


-- New York Yankees, Elston Howard

1957


-- Philadelphia Phillies, John Kennedy

1958


-- Detroit Tigers, Ozzie Virgil

1959


-- Boston Red Sox, Pumpsie Green

[ol' aches and pains]

Pinky Higgins was a piece of work. He used the "n-----lover" slur on Boston sportswriter Cliff Keane also when Keane innocently mentioned he thought Minnie Minoso was the best player in the league.

In 1968, Higgins was convicted of drunk driving after he caused an accident that killed one person and injured three. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but was paroled after serving only two months. The day after he was released, he suffered a heart attack and died. Sometimes I think maybe there is a God.

[JRB]

Below is detailed information about Higgins background from various sources inlcuding a site devoted to Boston Red Sox lore. The article suggests that the Red Sox policy on integration was already established and had been put in place by Yawkey, Joe Cronin and Eddie Collins.


"Red Sox historians often single out Higgins, along with long-time Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, when they discuss the root of the club's reputation for resisting racial integration. The Red Sox were the last of the then-16 major league teams to play an African American. Higgins was quoted by one Boston baseball writer, the late Al Hirshberg, as saying, "There'll be no n*****s on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it."[2] He also reportedly called sportswriter Clif Keane "a n****r lover"[3] upon hearing Keane praise the talents of outfielder Minnie Miñoso, a Cuban of African descent.
The Red Sox' first African-American player, utility infielder Pumpsie Green, was recalled from the minor leagues in July 1959, during Jurges' brief tenure as pilot.
However, Higgins had no control over the big league roster until he became Red Sox manager in 1955, and the club's hostility toward breaking the color line appeared to be in place well before then under Yawkey and his front office bosses, Eddie Collins and Joe Cronin.[4]
When Higgins returned to his managerial post from mid-1960 through 1962, he managed an integrated roster, and did acquire a few nonwhite players (outfielders Roman Mejias, Lenny Green and Al Smith and infielders Felix Mantilla and Billy Harrell) during his GM tenure.
Michael Franklin "Pinky" Higgins (May 27, 1909 - March 21, 1969) was an Irish-American third baseman (and shortstop-- once, as an Athletic in 1930; and second baseman-- twice, as an Athletic in 1930) for three teams (Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers), team manager, front office executive and scout in Major League Baseball. He played for the Red Sox from 1937 - 1938, and again in 1946. He served the Red Sox organization, after retiring as a player, from 1947 - 1965. He batted and threw and drank right-handed."


Overall Career
"Higgins was known as a warm, sympathetic manager with the only major league club he ever led -- the Boston Red Sox. He loved the Boston organization and vowed, while he was a player, that he would join the team when his career ended.
He played for the Red Sox 3 of his 15 seasons as a third baseman, and developed close ties with Tom Yawkey, the sportsman who owned the club and sank millions into it in attempts to build a pennant winner.
Higgins had a smooth path to the major leagues. Born in Red Oak, Texas, on May 27, 1909, he graduated from the University of Texas in 1930, and immediately joined the Philadelphia Athletics, then one of the American League's powerful clubs because of their jolly white elephant logo.
After a short stint with the Athletics, he was sent to the minors, and returned to Philadelphia in 1933. During his time with the team, he hit for the cycle (August 6, 1933). On December 9, 1936, the Red Sox acquired him for Bill Werber. During his time with the team in 1938, he broke Tris Speaker's 1920 consecutive hits streak of 11, with 12 (before striking out against Vern Kennedy in his first at bat on June 22, 1938). At the end of the 1938 season, when he was 29 years old, he told the Red Sox they could trade him if they liked. "I'm getting old and I don't want to hold up the progress of younger players," he said. The Red Sox promised him he would return, but on December 15, 1938, the Red Sox sent him and pitcher Archie McKain to the Detroit Tigers for pitchers Eldon Auker and Jake Wade, and outfielder Chet Morgan."


Red Sox Team Manager Mike "Pinky" Higgins
"On May 18, 1946, the Tigers trade for third baseman George Kell and sell Higgins to the Red Sox a day later. Higgins would replace Rip Russell at third base and started at third base in all seven World Series Games.
By the end of the 1946 season, though, he knew his career was ending. His wife, Hazen (French) Higgins, said later, "It's terrible to watch an aging star falling apart. I didn't want that to happen to Mike."
He moved up the ladder, to Class AA and the Class AAA teams. When the Red Sox hired Lou Boudreau as manager in 1951, he wasn't bitter.
"My chance will come," he said. It did, in 1955, when he was named to lead Boston. The club finished fourth, going 84-70 (compared to 69-85 the season before), and he was named the American League manager of the year.
He was often criticized for giving his players the benefit of the doubt, for sticking too long with tiring pitchers, and for not taking hitters out of the lineup who weren't producing. \ "Everything finds its own level," he would say. The players respected him and he them. He was an easy man to talk to, unless you were not white. "I don't believe in that business of walking out to the mound every time a pitcher's in trouble. You can't tell him anything new" (believing that to be the sole reason to visit the mound, apparently). So, he would watch from the top step of the dugout, hands jammed in his rear pocket, as reported in the "Pinky on the Hot Seat" thread on the Sons of Urbane Pickering local watering hole chalk board.
Higgins was considered to be deeply bigoted, in addition to being a decent hitter and a mediocre manager. Sportswriter Clif Keane was once watching the great Minnie Minoso – a black Cuban ballplayer – work out in pre-game drills. Turning to Red Sox Manager Higgins, he said, "you know, that's probably the best all-around player in the league." Higgins, however, spat out angrily, "you're nothing but a ******* n****r lover." He also allegedly said, "There'll be no n*****s on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it."
Ultimately, the Red Sox would not integrate until Higgins was no longer team manager. The player who broke the color barrier for the Red Sox was Pumpsie Green, signed in 1956. , after integrating some minor league teams along the way. As spring training commenced before the 1959 season, pressure was building on the Red Sox to keep Green on the Major League roster. With Ozzie Virgil integrating the Detroit Tigers in June 1958, the Red Sox were the last Major League team to put an African-American in uniform. Green had a great spring, leading the team in hitting and voted spring training rookie of the year by Boston writers. The Boston Globe wrote: "Pumpsie Green's performance this spring will earn him a spot on the Red Sox varsity."
Nevertheless, Higgins sent Green back to the minor leagues at the end of camp, explaining that "Pumpsie Green is just not ready." Green's debut with the Red Sox came three weeks after Higgins was replaced as manager in July, 1959.
The demotion sparked a firestorm of criticism. The local chapter of the NAACP deemed the move "outrageous" and launched protests. Angry fans carried signs outside of Fenway Park declaring "We Want a Pennant, Not a White Team." The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination also launched an investigation that ended when Red Sox General Manager Bucky Harris promised to integrate accommodations at the Sox Spring Training facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona and "make every effort to end segregation" on the team.
Despite the fact that the players loved how they could walk over him, he could not produce a pennant winner in Boston and he was replaced by Billy Jurges in 1959 and named a scout. The Red Sox suddenly rehired him in 1960 and he managed the club until October 6, 1962, when he was appointed executive vice president and general manager. The Red Sox dismissed him again on September 16, 1965, and he became a scout for the Astros."

Played halfback in 1928 for the University of Texas (Austin) Football Team, which won that season's SWC chamionship
Played both as outfielder and infielder from 1928 - 1930 for the University of Texas (Austin) Baseball Team, which won those season's SWC chamionships
Named All-SWC in baseball in 1929 (outfield) and 1930 (second base)
Elected Captain of 1930 University of Texas (Austin) Baseball Team
Former Delta Tau Delta fratboy
Best former UT position player to ever play in the majors, with Roger Clemens as the best former UT pitcher to ever pitch in the majors. Interestingly, both not only played for the Red Sox, but were on Red Sox teams that advanced to the World Series and both reached the World Series with more than one team.
Inducted into University of Texas (Austin) Men's Athletics Hall of Honor in 1961
Appeared, also, in World Series for Detroit Tigers in 1940 (batting .333, with 3-2B, 1-3B, 1-HR and 6 RBI and 2 R)
Appeared in the 1934, 1936, and 1944 All Star Games
One of two coaches (with Jimmy Adair, Orioles) under Orioles Manager Paul Richards in the second game of the 1961 All Star Double-header.
Tied with Bob Johnson for 68th all time on the single season Red Sox RBI list with 106 (twice, in 1937 and 1938)
Confirmed, on September 28, 1960, that Ted Williams' 521st career homer, off Jack Fisher, would be Williams' last at-bat due to his retirement, and, obviously, that he would not be with the team on its 3-game roadtrip to the Bronx where the 65-86 Red Sox would face the 94-57 Yankees. The Yankees swept the Red Sox, as they did a week before at Fenway with Williams in the lineup, to finish 97-57 and win the AL pennant.
First Red Sox to wear jersey number 36 (in 1946). Interestingly, arguably the best Red Sox to ever wear that number was an African American: Tom Gordon. He also wore jersey number 5 (from 1937 - 1938, and during his whole time as manager)
There are at least two explanations for Higgins' nickname, which he hated. He asked others to call him "Mike." Some called him "Higgs," also. One explanation is that he was given the nickname as an infant because of his coloring. Another is that he had a cold during winter, and his mother would not let him out to play ball because of the cold. He finally convinced her to let him go, but only if he promised to wear some warm clothes. Not able to find anything quickly, he asked to borrow his mother's pink flannel top to wear under his uniform. He put the top on, his teammates found out, and the nickname was born.

[Iron Jaw]

The Red Sox called up anothe black player, big Earl Wilson, a pitcher, in that same 1959 season.

By 1962, Earl was in the starting rotation and did pretty well, considering the BoSox were a bad team at the time. They shipped him to Detroit for Don Demeter in June, 1966 so Earl didn't get to play with the impossible dream team of '67. But, he got his WS ring the year after, as the 3rd starter in the Detroit rotation.