"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: LARRY DOBY

Today we add the great, and underappreciated in my book, Hall of Famer Larry Doby to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, to be released later this year celebrating the sport I hold dear for all these years:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

1960'S CAREER-CAPPERS SPECIAL INSERT SERIES: LARRY DOBY

Up on the blog today, we begin to spotlight what were my special random inserts to my custom 1960's "Career-Cappers" set released a few years ago.

These were square mini-cards inserted one to a set reflecting all the players in this checklist, on beautiful velvet-touch thick card stock.

We'll start this thread with under-appreciated (in my book anyway) Cleveland Indian star Larry Doby:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

 

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: LARRY DOBY

Hello everyone!

On the blog today, we march right along and showcase my "missing" 1950 Drakes card for Larry Doby, part of my custom set released a couple years back in fun deluxe "floating frame" packaging:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: LARRY DOBY

On the blog today, adding to a fun thread I started somewhat recently, a 1972 sub-set celebrating ballplayers that began their careers in the Negro Leagues before coming to the N.L./A.L. later on, this time the great Larry Doby, the first African-American player in American League history:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1960 CAREER-CAPPERS: LARRY DOBY

Up on the blog today, we spotlight a card from my "1960 Career-Cappers" set released a couple of years ago, the 1960 "career-capper" for Hall of Famer Larry Doby:

Doby began his career in the Negro leagues between 1942 and 1947 before becoming the first African-American player in American League history in 1948 with the Cleveland Indians.

He would not disappoint the Cleveland faithful as he would help the team become a powerhouse, even if they kept falling behind the New York Yankees throughout the 1950's.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

COACH CARD- 1971 LARRY DOBY

Here’s the second “coach card” I’ve created for Hall of Famer Larry Doby, the first being the card I created for him in the 1977 set that had him coaching the Chicago White Sox.
Today’s card has him in his earlier coaching gig with the Montreal Expos back in 1971:

Doby lent his expertise on the ball-field to a few coaching jobs after his playing days were over.
This one had him with the new expansion Expos serving as a batting instructor under manager Gene Mauch off and on until 1976 after actually serving the organization as a scout and Minor League instructor in 1969/1970.
In between his stops in Montreal and Chicago, he even served as first base coach for the Cleveland Indians in 1974, so I’ll try tracking down a nice coaching image from that stint to create another coach-card.
His Negro and MLB playing days eventually earned him a spot in the hallowed doors of Cooperstown, getting elected in 1998 by the Veteran’s Committee, and rightly so.

1977 COACH CARD- LARRY DOBY

After closing out a Hall of Fame career as a pioneering player during the 1940’s and 1950’s, Larry Doby continued to serve baseball well into the 1990’s.
So here’s a card of his time as coach for the Chicago White Sox in 1977, before he was actually to become the second black manager in Major League history the following season:

Doby actually started his coaching career with the Montreal Expos in the first season, 1969, and would serve in one capacity or another with the organization until 1973 before returning in 1976 after coaching with the Cleveland Indians in between. (keep and eye out for an Expos coach card in the near future).
Once former White Sox owner Bill Veeck purchased the White Sox again in 1976, Doby was brought in to act as hitting coach, where the White Sox would have some impressive offensive seasons under his mentoring.
He would remain with the organization until 1979 before resigning and becoming the Director of Communications for the New Jersey Nets in 1980, a position he would keep until 1989.
All in all a great career in professional sports for one of the better power hitters of the Golden Age of baseball during the 1950’s.