NJ.com reports that two NJ congressmen have sponsored a bill nominating Larry Doby, America's 2nd black major leaguer baseball player, for the Congressional Gold Medal. The Medal is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.
I left these comments:
This is long overdue. Doby should never have been overshadowed by Jackie Robinson (no disrespect meant for Robinson). Doby is a true American hero. What’s especially admirable about Doby’s achievement is that he broke the American League’s color barrier without “benefit” of forced integration laws. All he needed was the freedom to do it; i.e., the absence of forced segregation (Jim Crow) laws. As I wrote four years ago in a tribute to Doby for The Objective Standard magazine:
This kind of personal achievement and cultural progress is a testament to the power of courage and reason, and to the ultimate impotence of ignorance and bigotry. All it took to set this change in motion was two rational, courageous individuals—[Cleveland Indians owner Bill] Veeck and Doby—free to act on their judgment. Veeck signed Doby, Doby took the field, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Kudos to Representatives Pascrell and Renacci for their nomination of Doby for the Congressional Gold Medal.
Related Reading:
Larry Doby, American Hero
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