Pumpsie Green, the first Black to play with the Boston Red Sox, has passed away

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BOSTON - Former Boston Red Sox front-runner Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, the first Black player to play with the last team to join one in his ranks, is dead. He was 85 years old.

The Red Sox reported that Green, who has lived in California for most of his life, died at a hospital in San Leandro, near Oakland. The cause of death has not been specified.

The team had a moment of silence before their match against the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Pumpsie Green has a special place in our history," said Red Sox owner John Henry.

"By his own admission, he was a pioneer without wanting to, but we will always remember him for his grace and perseverance in becoming our first African-American player. He paved the way for many great color players who followed with the Red Sox. For that, we are all very grateful to Pumpsie. "

Fast-paced Green has somehow ended segregation at baseball when he was dispatched to the field as an alternate runner for Vic Wertz in a game against the Chicago White Sox. July 21, 1959, more than 12 years after Jackie Robinson's first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Green joined the Red Sox on a long trip abroad and played nine games before playing for the first time at Fenway Park.

This year, in an interview with NESN, which broadcasts Red Sox games on television, Green said he remembered receiving a standing ovation when he ran for the baton as the first batter of the lineup .

"It was comforting and stressful," he told reporters in 1997 when he returned to Boston to participate in the ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of Robinson's debut.

"But I was lucky: I hit a triple on the fence of the center left field. "

Green did not have such an impressive talent as Robinson, or Larry Doby, a star who was the first Black to play in the American League (with the Cleveland Indians), some three months after Robinson. The Red Sox front-runner earned a job in the Major Leagues as a Reservist. Green has played more than 88 games in a single season, has never hit more than six homers, and has never had a batting average above.

Green spent four years with the Red Sox before closing his five-season career with the New York Mets. In total, he posted a batting average of .246, with 13 homers and 74 RBIs.

But his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform put an end to one of the saddest chapters in baseball, and the fact that it took so long for the Red Sox to leave a mark on the organization it try again to erase.

A few days after Green's recall, the Red Sox added Earl Wilson, a Black pitcher. According to Green, there was an informal quota that forced teams to rely on an even number of Black players because they could live together overseas.

There were few blacks in the locker room, in the offices or in the bleachers in Boston, Green reported in 1997.

"Most of the time, it was only me," he said. It was almost a quirk when you saw a black man walking around the stands. "

Unlike Robinson, Green said he never received death threats.

"It was mostly insults. But you can receive it in any stadium at any time. I had learned not to hear them. "