Monte Irvin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Monte Irvin
Irvin circa 1953
Left fielder
Born: (1919-02-25)February 25, 1919 Haleburg, Alabama
Died: January 11, 2016(2016-01-11) (aged 96) Houston, Texas
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
NgL: 1938, for the Newark Eagles
MLB: July 8, 1949, for the New York Giants
Last appearance
September 30, 1956, for the Chicago Cubs
MLB statistics
Batting average	.304
Hits	1,059
Home runs	137
Runs batted in	688
Stolen bases	51
Teams
Negro leagues Newark Eagles (1938–1942, 1946–1948) Major League Baseball New York Giants (1949–1955) Chicago Cubs (1956)
Career highlights and awards
4x NgL All-Star (1941, 1946–1948) MLB All-Star (1952) Negro World Series champion (1946) World Series champion (1954) 2× Negro National League batting champion (1941, 1946) NL RBI leader (1951) San Francisco Giants No. 20 retired
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1973
Election Method	Negro Leagues Committee
Military career Allegiance  United States Service/branch  United States Army Years of service 1942–1945 Rank Sergeant Unit 1313th Battalion Battles/wars World War II

Monte Irvin (born February 25, 1919 – died January 11, 2016) was an American baseball player. He played as a left fielder and right fielder. Monte played in both the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB).

He played for the Newark Eagles in the Negro leagues from 1938 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1948. Later, he joined Major League Baseball. He played for the New York Giants from 1949 to 1955 and the Chicago Cubs in 1956.

Monte grew up in New Jersey. He was a great football player at Lincoln University. His baseball career was paused when he served in the military during World War II from 1943 to 1945.

When he joined the New York Giants, Monte Irvin was one of the first African-American players in MLB. He played in two World Series with the Giants. In 1951, he was asked to help guide future Hall of Famer Willie Mays. Monte Irvin was added to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. After playing, he worked as a baseball scout and had an important job in the MLB commissioner's office.

At the time of his death, Monte Irvin was the oldest living former Negro Leagues player. He was also the oldest living former player for the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. He lived in a retirement home in Houston before he passed away.

Monte Irvin's Early Life

Monte Irvin was born on February 25, 1919, in Haleburg, Alabama. He was one of 13 children. His brother, Cal Irvin, also played in the Negro leagues. When Monte was a child, his family moved to Orange, New Jersey.

At Orange High School, he was a star in four different sports. He earned 16 varsity letters and set a state record in the javelin throw. Monte also played baseball for a local semi-professional team called the Orange Triangles. He said his coach helped him stay out of trouble. He was offered a football scholarship to the University of Michigan, but he could not afford to move there.

Monte went to Lincoln University. He was a great football player there. However, he had disagreements with his coach. He also found it hard to keep his sports scholarship while studying to become a dentist. Because of these problems, Negro league baseball teams started trying to sign him.

Baseball Career Before MLB

Monte Irvin started playing for the Newark Eagles in the Negro National League in 1938. Larry Doby, who was the first black player in the American League, played alongside Irvin in Newark.

Monte was a very good hitter. He had high batting averages of .422 in 1940 and .396 in 1941. Before the 1942 season, he asked for more money. When his request was turned down, he left the Negro leagues. He went to play in the Mexican League, where he won a triple crown. This means he led the league in batting average (.397), home runs (20), and runs batted in (79) in 63 games.

Serving in World War II

After the 1942 Mexican League season, Monte Irvin was drafted into the military. He joined the army's GS Engineers, 1313th Battalion. He served for three years in England, France, and Belgium. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Monte said that black soldiers were often treated poorly by white soldiers at first. But the situation got better. Many white soldiers realized it made no sense to fight for freedom in Europe while black soldiers faced unfair treatment at home. Monte's time in the military caused him to have tinnitus (ringing in his ears), which affected his balance.

Returning to Baseball After the War

After World War II, Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey wanted to sign Monte Irvin for the major leagues. But Monte felt he wasn't ready to play at that level so soon after leaving the army. Also, the Newark Eagles' business manager, Effa Manley, would not let Rickey sign Irvin without paying the Eagles for his contract. Rickey had signed Jackie Robinson without paying his Negro league team.

Monte Irvin was named MVP in the Puerto Rican Winter League in 1945–46. He went back to the Newark Eagles in 1946. He helped his team win the league championship. Monte won his second batting title, hitting .401. He was key in beating the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League World Series. He hit .462 with three home runs in that series. He was chosen as a Negro League All-Star five times (1941, 1946–1948, including two games in 1946). He played in Cuba during the winter of 1948–49.

Monte Irvin's Major League Baseball Career

In 1949, the New York Giants paid $5,000 to get Monte Irvin's contract. He was one of the first black players to be signed. Jackie Robinson had only broken the MLB color barrier in 1947.

Monte played for the Jersey City team in the International League first, where he batted .373. He made his debut with the Giants on July 8, 1949, as a pinch hitter. In 1950, he was called up to the Giants after hitting .510 with ten home runs in 18 games for Jersey City. Monte batted .299 for the Giants that season, playing first base and in the outfield.

In 1951, Monte helped the Giants make an amazing comeback to win the pennant over the Dodgers. He batted .312 with 24 home runs and led the league with 121 runs batted in (RBI). He played well in the 1951 World Series, hitting .458. In the playoff game against the Dodgers, Monte popped out just before Bobby Thomson hit the famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World". That year, Monte Irvin, Hank Thompson, and Willie Mays became the first all-black outfield in the major leagues. Monte finished third in the National League's MVP voting.

During that season, Giants manager Leo Durocher asked Monte to help Willie Mays, who had just joined the team. Mays later said, "Monte was like my brother... I couldn't go anywhere without him, especially on the road... He knew everything... and he protected me dearly." Monte later joked, "I did that for two years and in the third year he started showing me around."

In 1952, Monte broke his ankle during a spring training game. Willie Mays said it was "a horrible thing to see." But Monte recovered quickly enough to be named to his only Major League Baseball All-Star Game that year. He played in only 46 games that season, hitting .310 with four home runs and 21 RBI.

Monte hit .329 with 21 home runs and 97 RBI in 1953. In 1954, he hit .262 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI. The Giants won the pennant and played the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series. Monte was in left field when Mays made "The Catch" in Game 1. The Giants won the Series in four games.

In 1955, Monte was sent to the minor leagues. He hit 14 home runs in 75 games for the Minneapolis Millers. The Chicago Cubs signed him before the 1956 season. Monte played in 111 games for the Cubs that year, hitting .271 with 15 home runs.

A back injury in 1957 led Monte to retire as a player. He played only four minor league games that year. In his major league career, Monte batted .293. He had 99 home runs, 443 RBI, 366 runs scored, and 731 hits in 764 games. He also had 97 doubles, 31 triples, and 28 stolen bases.

Monte Irvin's Later Life

After he retired from playing baseball, Monte Irvin worked for a beer company. Later, he became a scout for the New York Mets from 1967 to 1968. In 1968, he was named a public relations specialist for the commissioner's office under Bowie Kuhn. This made him the first black executive in professional baseball.

He was elected to the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. The next year, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This was mainly because of his great play in the Negro leagues.

Irvin at his number retirement ceremony, 2010

On May 16, 2006, a park in Orange, New Jersey, was renamed Monte Irvin Park in his honor.

Monte Irvin's number 20 was retired by the San Francisco Giants in 2010.

On June 26, 2010, the San Francisco Giants officially retired his number 20 uniform. This means no other Giants player will wear that number. He was joined by other Hall of Famers like Willie Mays and Willie McCovey at the ceremony. He also threw out the first pitch of Game 1 of the 2010 World Series. In 2015, he received a 2014 World Series ring from Giants executives. He also visited the White House with the Giants team.

In 2013, Monte Irvin was honored with the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award. This award recognized his service in the United States Army during World War II.

Monte Irvin passed away on January 11, 2016, in Houston. He was almost 97 years old. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living African American to have played in the major leagues. He was also the oldest living member of a World Series-winning team. The Giants wore a special patch on their uniforms in his memory during the 2016 season.

On October 19, 2016, a life-sized bronze statue of Monte Irvin was placed in Monte Irvin Park in Orange, New Jersey. In 2021, he was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Career Statistics

Here are Monte Irvin's official statistics from his time in the Negro leagues. These numbers were put together by a study for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Negro Leagues Statistics

Mexican League Statistics

See Also

• List of first black Major League Baseball players
• List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
• List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders