70 years ago, Joe Black became the first African-American pitcher to win a World Series game.

And when we talk about barrier breakers, Joe Black is not a name that quickly rises to the top of those barrier-breaking list.

But in 1952, when Joe Black, at the age of 28, joined the Brooklyn

diamonds, he accomplished that historic feat. As a matter of fact, Joe Black was named

rookie of the year in 1952. After having a stellar career in the Negro Leagues, primarily with

the Baltimore E-Light Giants,

and then joining the Brooklyn Dodgers where his roommate was Jackie Robinson.

And so those two barrier-breaking teammates, you just get the impression that Jackie Robinson

was a pretty much no-nonsense kind of guy.

And he made it crystal clear to those early black players who joined him with the Dodgers

on how they were going to go about conducting themselves in this business of baseball

because he wanted to make sure that others who followed them would have an opportunity.

Joe Black was truly more than a Dodger.

Joe Black, born in Plainsfield, New Jersey, would become a high school star there in his neck of the woods there in New Jersey,

would later go on to Morgan State University on a baseball scholarship and was a tremendous

baseball player and a tremendous athlete there at Morgan State University.

He would do a stint during World War II in the U.S.

Army, so he served this country. And then, as I said, would join the Brooklyn Dodgers after moving

into the Dodgers in 1952. But after Joe Black's career, this is where, in my own estimation, he represents everything that is great about the Negro Leagues.

Joe Black will become an educator, a teacher.

Joe Black would go on to become the first African-American executive of a major transportation company, Greyhound.

And Joe Black, and I remember reading his column as a kid in both Ebony and Jet, by the way, with Joe Black.

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