On August 1, 1974, twenty-six-year-old Ron LeFlore made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut for the Detroit Tigers. Thirteen months earlier, LeFlore was serving a five-to-fifteen-year sentence for armed robbery. LeFlore’s remarkable trajectory began when he was born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 16, 1948, … Read MoreRonald LeFlore (1948- )
“Image Ownership: Fair Use” Mamie Lee Johnson was the first and only African American female pitcher and one of three African American women to play in the Negro Leagues. Johnson was born Mamie Belton on September 27, 1935, in Ridgeway, South Carolina, to Gentry Harrison … Read MoreMamie Lee Johnson (1935–2017)
Marcenia Lyle “Toni” Stone Alberga was the first of three African American women to play professionally in the Negro Leagues. She was born on July 17, 1921, in Bluefield, West Virginia. Her parents, Willa and Boykin Stone, moved the family to St. Paul, Minnesota, when … Read MoreToni Stone (1921-1996)
“Image Ownership: MissChatter” Major League Baseball shortstop Edgar Renteria is Colombia’s most successful player in U.S. baseball history as well as its most prominent athlete of African descent. During his 16 years in the U.S. major leagues he played for seven different teams. Renteria was … Read MoreEdgar Enrique Renteria (1975- )
Larry Doby was the first African American baseball player to go directly from the Negro Leagues to the major leagues when the Cleveland Indians purchased his contract from the Newark Eagles on July 3, 1947. Two days later, on July 5, 1947, Larry Doby became … Read MoreLarry Doby (1923-2003)
