CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Cleveland’s baseball team was at the forefront in the fight for equality, the Guardians franchise home to several Major League firsts that changed the game forever.
“We definitely were barrier breakers with Larry and Frank and Satchel,” said Indians/Guardians team historian Jeremy Feador about Larry Doby, Frank Robinson, and Satchel Paige.
Doby was the first Black player in the American League, making his debut just weeks after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
“Larry’s a few weeks after Jackie, not like six months after, he’s a few weeks,” Feador explained. “Larry had to deal with the same amount of nonsense that Jackie had to and things weren’t, once they got into the league, things just weren’t fine; they had to deal with this their entire career.”
Satchel Paige, already a Negro League legend, joined Cleveland just a year after Doby, his debut two days after his 42nd birthday, signed by Indians owner and master promoter Bill Veeck. Doby and Paige would team up and lead the Indians to their last World Series championship in 1948.
“They thought that Satchel Paige, bringing him in was more of a ploy because Veeck is a showman and they thought this is just to get people in the seats,” Feador continued. “But Satchel was no joke. He became the first Black pitcher to pitch in a World Series.”
Doby and Paige became the first Black players to win a World Series and Paige became the first player from the Negro Leagues to get inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.
In 1975, another first, Frank Robinson became Major League Baseball’s first Black manager, the team celebrating the 50th anniversary of that historic occasion last Opening Day.
“It was really cool to see the fifty-year anniversary of that and fifty years isn’t that long,” said Feador. “We were able to have Frank’s number retired, build a statue for him while he was still with us.”
A statue to Larry Doby adorns the plaza outside Progressive Field but Feador says, even after his career ended, his accomplishments weren’t fully recognized.
“It took him to 1998 to get into the Hall of Fame and you look at his numbers, you look at what he did, it’s baffling it took that long.”
The Indians and now Guardians rich history of embracing Black and Latino players through the years reinforces an important message about America’s pastime.
“Baseball’s being America’s game,” concluded Feador, “that means everyone.”
Three men. Three firsts. One team that helped change America.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.