Sat 7/1 @ 10:30AM
This month the Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park in Hough celebrates the legacy of Cleveland Indians player Larry Doby on the 70th anniversary of his signing with the team.
Doby, who died in 2003, became the second African-American player to play in Major League Baseball (and the first in the American League) when he signed with Cleveland a few months after Jackie Robinson made the move from the Negro Leagues to the big time. Doby had a thing for second; he was also the second black manager in the major leagues with the Chicago White Sox.
The program “Like Being the Second Person the Invent the Telephone: The Legacy of Larry Doby” will feature a presentation of his career highlights by Ike Brooks. It’s free and open to the public.
On Sat 7/15 @ noon there will be a book discussion centering on the books The books Larry Doby: The Struggle of the American League’s First Black Player by Joseph Thomas Moore and Greatness in the Shadows: Larry Doby and the Integration of the American League by Douglas M. Branson.
And on Sat 7/29 @ noon author author Charlie Vascellaro will present “The Cactus League and the Integration of Spring Training.” He’ll explore the impact of the first black players in the major leagues coinciding with the first year spring training was held in Arizona, and how that led to the integration of its hotels, restaurant, bars and clubs. (Doby’s first season with the Indians in Tucson was 1948).