this day is sports history..Larry Doby is HOF

People often forget that Larry Doby who on this day was inducted to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1998, was the 1st black person to play in the American League. He gets looked over because Jackie Robinson broke the the color barrier before he did.

Doby was signed by the Cleveland Indians by their owner Bill Veeck in 1947, eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League. In his rookie season, Doby hit 5-for-32 in 29 games.

During the 1997 season, when the long-departed Jackie Robinson's number 42 was being retired throughout baseball, and the still-living Larry Doby was being virtually ignored by the media, an editorial in Sports Illustrated pointed out that Doby had to suffer the same indignities that Robinson did, and with nowhere near the media attention and implicit support

In 1948, Doby became an important piece of Cleveland's World Series victory against the Boston Braves. In Game Four of the 1948 Fall Classic, Doby became the first black player to hit a home run in World Series history. He also helped the Indians to win 111 games and the American League pennant in 1954.