Pumpsie Green

On this date in 1959 (not a typo), the Red Sox become the last club to integrate when Elijah "Pumpsie" Green played shortstop for them.

"I had no roommate. It never crossed my mind to have a roommate, since I was the only black on the team. It wasn't a rule. It wasn't a law. But it was unwritten that blacks did not room with whites. The Red Sox got me a room in a hotel. I didn't even know if I had to pay for it or not."

"Sometimes terrible things would be yelled out, racial epithets. I got where I could divorce it from my mind, cut it off. I told people I had enough troubles trying to hit a curveball. I wasn't going to worry about some loudmouths."