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South Carolina Baseball Legend Honored by Cleveland Indians

Larry Doby, 1953
Bowman Gum [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  Camden native Larry Doby was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the American League, joining the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1947, just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the National League with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Indians recently honored Doby with a statue outside Progressive Stadium in Cleveland. Camden is justifiably proud of Doby – who was the first black player on a World Series Championship team – as is evidenced by the comments of Camden Archives and Museum Director Catherine Richardson and Tom Didato, sports editor with the Camden Chronicle Independent.

Tut Underwood is producer of South Carolina Focus, a weekly news feature. A native of Alabama, Tut graduated from Auburn University with a BA in Speech Communication. He worked in radio in his hometown before moving to Columbia where he received a Master of Mass Communications degree from the University of South Carolina, and worked for local radio while pursuing his degree. He also worked in television. He was employed as a public information specialist for USC, and became Director of Public Information and Marketing for the South Carolina State Museum. His hobbies include reading, listening to music in a variety of styles and collecting movies and old time radio programs.