El Cerrito: History-Making Pumpsie Green Thanks City

“Pumpsie” Green, the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox…by all accounts.

The El Cerrito City Council Tuesday night presented Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green, 78, with a proclamation honoring his “distinguished stature in baseball history.”

“We are honoring more than a baseball player tonight,” said Mayor Bill Jones. “We’re honoring a very good person by all accounts.”

...“So it’s pleasure from one Gaucho to another to be part of this presentation,” Jones said.

“I’d like to talk a little bit about history,” he continued. “A lot of us, the vast majority of us, we really live through history. ... But few of us are history.”

Jones then recounted Green’s entry onto the Red Sox roster during a game in 1959. “When he entered the game,” Jones said. “Pumpsie Green became history. He was not only the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox. He ended segregation in major league baseball. For the Boston Red Sox, as we all know, was the last team to integrate in major league baseball.”

...Jones noted that it was more difficult to break into the major leagues then, when there were only 16 teams (compared with 30 now) and only 400 roster positions.

“You had to be really, really good – a really good ballplayer – to be playing at that time,” Jones said. “And in 1959, if you were African-American, you had to be exceptionally good. And Pumpsie Green was.”