first al home run by a black player??? (answered)

[Runnin' Rebel]

Keeping the thread of first Black Ballplayers going, who was the first Black player to hit a HR in the American league?????

[utterchaos]

Time: 13.72 seconds

Doby

[Dr. Duran Duran]

Time: 32.18 seconds

brown<br><br><span class=gensmall>Accepted as answer by Runnin\' Rebel on Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:20 am EST.</span>

[CheeseBeger]

Time: 33.85 seconds

doby

[deerayfan072]

Time: 1 minutes, 41.53 seconds

doby?

[Lowrobinson]

Time: 1 minutes, 44.63 seconds

Dan Bankhead

[Runnin' Rebel]

Recent Hall of Fame inductee WILLARD BROWN holds the distinction of being the first black player in the American League to hit a home run. Brown was part of the Browns' effort to intergrate during the 1947 season as they added the free-swinging outfielder to the line-up along with Hank Thompson from the previous question.

To accomplish his feat Brown hit a pinch-hit homer in one of his rare apperances, his major league career only spanned 21 games. However, Cooperstown will never get a chance to display the bat used to hit this historic homer.

Apparently the bat boy gave Brown a "borrowed" bat to swing during this momumental at bat. After Brown circled the bases the owner of the bat chastised the bat boy and broke the bat claiming that it was, "not fit for use after being used by a nigger." This comment matched the general mood of players and fans alike toward Brown and Thompson and they were returned to the Nergo League shortly after the end of the '47 season.