Before Jackie, Before Mays — This Player Dominated

Today is the birthday of Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin, born in Haleburg, Alabama, February 25, 1919.

The eighth of thirteen children in the Jim Crow South, Irvin grew up on a sharecropper’s wages until his family, seeking a better life, moved north to Orange, New Jersey.

One day, on his way to buy a saxophone, Irvin was distracted by a baseball glove in a sporting goods store window. That glove ended up being the start of a stellar high school career. At Orange High, he earned 16 varsity letters in four different sports and set a state record in the javelin.

Baseball, though, was his true dream. He later said, “I just wanted to be a real good ball player. I didn't know if I’d ever play professionally. I didn’t know if I’d ever play in the major leagues. I certainly wanted to play in the Negro Leagues.”

He did — and became one of its greatest players. In 1940, he led the entire Negro League with a .380 batting average, then won the batting title again the next year in the Negro National League, hitting .387. Frustrated with low pay on the Newark Eagles, he joined the Veracruz Blues in Mexico, batting .397 with 20 home runs despite missing a third of the season. More than just offering better pay, Mexico presented a stark contrast to how the U.S. treated African Americans: “For the first time in my life I felt really free. You could go anywhere, go to any theater, do anything, eat in any restaurant, just like anybody else, and it was wonderful.”

But his escape from racism was short-lived. With World War II underway, he was drafted into the all-Black 1313th General Services Engineers and sent to Europe. He returned with a severe ringing in his ears that affected his coordination, and a deep disappointment in how he and other Black service members had been treated as if they were ’just in the way.’

Still, Irvin continued to dominate with the Eagles and, two years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, signed with the New York Giants. While he helped lead them to two World Series, winning one, he wasn’t the same player. His friend, Roy Campanella said: “Monte was the best all-round player I have ever seen. As great as he was in 1951, he was twice that good 10 years earlier in the Negro Leagues.”

Yet Irvin still made an impact — not just on the field, but in the clubhouse, where he became a mentor to a young Willie Mays. Mays later reflected: “Monte was like my brother...I couldn't go anywhere without him, especially on the road...It was just a treat to be around him. I didn't understand life in New York until I met Monte. He knew everything about what was going on and he protected me dearly.”

MLB News

Hello Mustaches, Goodbye New York — Plus POOP, Dingers & Injuries

• Traditions Fall — The Yankees will no longer;

  • Play ‘New York, New York’ after they lose. Now it’ll only play after victories.

  • Require their players to shave.

• RIP POOP – The Phillies new score bug means the end of the POOP series. A tragedy if we’ve ever seen one.

• Spring Dingers – Yeah ok so we know they don’t count, but how can these spring training homers not get you excited for the season?

• Early Injuries – Spring training brings more than just bombs over the fence. Nick Madrigal, a utility infielder for the Mets fractured his shoulder in a game on Sunday against the Nationals. And Stanton is returning to New York for more medical testing after reporting his elbow tendinitis has been flaring up.

• Stay Up to Speed — The boys at Jomboy Media are doing 2025 Preview episodes over on their podcast. Worth a subscribing if you want to keep tabs.

• A Storm is Brewing – Talk of a salary cap keeps cropping up and Rob Manfred says he’s getting plenty of emails about it. This will most likely be a central point of the CBA in 2026.

On This Day

The Founder of the Negro Leagues Gets Recognized

• 1981 — Rube Foster is elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Foster was a dominant early 20th-century pitcher and a visionary executive who founded the Negro National League in 1920, establishing the first successful professional Black baseball league.