On June 17, 1958 Ozzie Osvaldo Jose Virgil became
the first African American/ Hispanic to play for the Detroit Tigers. Despite having over 400,000 African Americans
living in Detroit at that time, the Tigers were the next to last team to
integrate their roster since Jackie Robinson broke through Major League
Baseball’s “invisible color line” in 1947.
Virgil came to the Tigers through a trade earlier in
the year with the San Francisco Giants who had originally signed him in
1953. He was one of the many players
from the Dominican Republic (Monte Cristi) that the
owner of former Negro League baseball’s New York Cubans, Alejandro “Alex”
Pompez, discovered for the Giants. A versatile addition to the team, Virgil could play in the infield or outfield, and also was a catcher. On his debut for the Tigers against the Washington Senators at Briggs Stadium, he played third base and contributed to the team’s 9 – 2 win with five hits, including one double, and scoring one run.
Despite his hot start, Virgil was used mainly as a utility player the second half of the season. He played in only 49 games and batted .244. He remained with the Tigers until 1961 when he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics.
No comments:
Post a Comment