The "A Ballplayer You Shouldn't Forget!" Story

It was an ordinary guy.  Listening to Jimmy Buffett live from the Opera House in New Zealand.  At least I thought it was live until I saw on my computer screen next to the word Zealand (2017). Oh well, his songs still sound the same no matter where he may be or when he sings them.  

Listening to Jimmy and writing about Monte!  Life is Good!

So, as I write this, you may find a few extra words from one of his songs jumping into my memory as I wish I had a pencil thin mustache.  Story begins on April 15, 1947 when Jackie Robinson stepped to the plate against the Milwaukee Braves.  In that one instant, Jackie broke Major League Baseball's color barrier.  So why was it Jackie instead of someone else.  There had to be quite a few negro baseball players who were just as good, but weren't chosen to step to the plate that fateful day.  He actually wasn't the player chosen by the Negro League owners.  That was a young man by the name of Monte Irvin.  Both Monte and Jackie had graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.  Monte had made a name for himself after playing nine years for the Newark Eagles while Robinson had only played one year in the Negro League.  Many said that Monte was the superior player.  

A signed Monte Irvine baseball card.
Asking $50 on eBay.

But, Monte had served in the 1313 Engineer General Service Regiment from 1942-45, seeing action in the Battle of the Bulge.  When Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey showed interest in Monte, he said he wasn't ready to play Major League Baseball so soon after the war.  He was still suffering from "shell shock." So, Monte went to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League where he won the MVP in 1945 and '46. It was there that he met 11-year-old Roberto Clemente.  Monte reported that the neighborhood kids would hang around the ball field and the players would let them carry their bags which is what Clemente and his buddy Orlando Cepeda did.  When Monte felt as if he was ready to return to the Negro League, he did so in 1946 where he led the team to the Negro World Series title and won the batting title in the process.  And, when Monte Told Rickey he wasn't quite ready to play in the Majors, Rickey turned to Robinson and gave him the opportunity to be the first player to cross the color line in Major League baseball.  

Monte when he played for the New York Giants.

Three years later at the age of 30, Monte's rights were sold to the New York Giants, but he wasn't quite the same player he had been with the Newark Eagles.  He still helped the Giants to two pennants (1951 and '54) and one World Series title in 1954.  But, during his time with the Giants he got the chance to groom a young player by the name of Willie Mays who was my hero when I began playing Little League Baseball.  Monte Irvine did make history when he, Willie Mays and Hank Thompson were the Major League's first all-black outfield.  Willie said,  "Monte taught me a lot of things about life. I already knew how to play the game, but sometimes you need a little more.  

Another signed baseball card.

You need to know how to treat people.  You need to know how, when you hit a home run, you run around the bases--you don't stop and show anybody up.  Thinking was more important to him than just playing the game."  In 1956 Monte moved to the Chicago Cubs.  He didn't get to play every day, but still drove in 50 runs in 111 games in what would be his final season.  After he retired as an active player, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made him a public relations specialist for MLB.  Monte was in that position when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record.  Monte Irwin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 for his Negro League career.  Irvine was 96 when he died in 2016.  He might not have received the same recognition as did Jackie Robinson, but that doesn't mean he wasn't as good a ball player.  While researching Monte, I got an entirely new outlook on what the Black ballplayers had to go through during their entry into Major League Baseball.  Has it changed today.  I'm not sure!  At times I feel it is no different than when they first arrived on April 15, 1947.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.