I just read that Larry Doby died, and had the reaction I suspect most people did: "Larry who?"
Turns out Doby was the second black major league baseball player, the first in the American League. He signed a contract just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson, and yet Robinson is the name we associate with being a pioneer in sports. And Doby, a hall of fame player who hit 20 homers in 8 straight years, leading the American League in that category twice, isn’t remembered by casual fans, and certainly not by non-sports fans.
Why is that? Was Robinson’s path that much more difficult for having started 3 months earlier? I doubt it. More than anything, I think it’s another representation of America’s love of who got there first. In a country with a history less than 10% that of some others, why are we so obsessed with knowing who accomplished something first? We can tell you who was the first man to walk on the moon, but often not the second. The first man to reach the top of Mt. Everest. Who knows the second, or the third?
What I’m trying to figure out is what motivates our ignorance in this area. It would be easy to chalk it up to hero worship; that we feel so strongly about these accomplishments that we idolize most those who got there first. I wonder, though, if it’s not a little darker than that. Perhaps there’s a part of us that wants to belittle the accomplishments of others, and while we can’t refuse to acknowledge how amazing it is to be the first one to get there, so to speak, we can sure as hell ignore the next one, can’t we?
In 1999, the New York Times asked Doby about the racist treatment he received when he first entered the big leagues. "There’s something in the Bible that says you should forgive and forget," he said. "Well, you might forgive. But boy, it is tough to forget." Interesting words from a man who hasn’t been remembered nearly as much as he deserves.
I think we would all do well to make a point of remembering some of the Seconds every now and then. It’s not hard to find the names–a few minutes with an internet connection should do the trick–but I’ll leave it to you to do the research. Spend a little time reading about the second man in space, the second person to sail around the world, the second person to break the 4 minute mile.
I’ll even give you name to look up so you can get started. The second black manager in Major League Baseball? Larry Doby.
