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NEW YORK - Hall of Famer Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, died Wednesday night after a long illness. He was believed to be 79.
Mr. Doby died at home in Montclair, N.J., his son, Larry Jr., said.
Mr. Doby was a seven-time All-Star in a 13-year career, almost all in the outfield for the Indians. He helped lead Cleveland to its last World Series title in 1948.
July 5, 1947, 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Mr. Doby joined the Indians.
He hit .283 with 253 home runs and 969 RBIs in a big-league career that lasted through 1959, but his locker room reception that first day in the majors was chilly. Some teammates would not even shake his hand.
"Very tough," he once recalled. "I'd never faced any circumstances like that. Teammates were lined up and some would greet you and some wouldn't. You could deal with it, but it was hard."
He was voted into the Hall of Fame by its Veterans Committee in 1998.
"Larry and I were very good friends," Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, Doby's teammate in Cleveland from 1947-56, said Wednesday night.
"He was a great guy, a great centerfielder and a great teammate. He helped us win the pennant in 1948 and the World Series. My thoughts go out to his family."
Feller remembered some of the difficulties Mr. Doby faced when he entered the league.
"It was tough on him," Feller said. "Larry was very sensitive, more so than (Jackie) Robinson or Satchel Paige or Luke Easter or some of the other players who came over from the Negro Leagues."
While Robinson's ascension was widely recognized, Mr. Doby received relatively scant attention.
"Don't forget Larry Doby," Willie Mays once told the New York Times. Referring to white players who had helped Robinson, he added, "From what I hear, Jackie had Pee Wee Reese and Gil Hodges and Ralph Branca, but Larry didn't have anybody."
In his first decade, Doby was kept apart from teammates, eating in separate restaurants and sleeping in separate hotels. From players and fans, he was a frequent target of racial taunts.
Mr. Doby kept his temper, heeding Bill Veeck's advice when the owner bought Doby's contract from the Negro National League's Newark Eagles.
"He sat me down and told me some of the do's and don'ts," Mr. Doby said. "No arguing with umpires. Don't even turn around at a bad call at the plate and no dissertations with opposing players; either of those might start a race riot."
He seldom expressed bitterness.
"We can see that baseball helped make this a better country," he said in a speech to a college audience after his playing days were over. "We hope baseball has given (children) some idea of what it is to live together and how you can get along, whether you be black or white."