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Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, First Player to Break Boston's Color Barrier

(Tayla Bolduc)
February 4, 2023

Elijah "Pumpsie" Green was the first Black player to play for the Boston Red Sox, the final team in Major League Baseball to integrate, in July of 1959. He played 13 years of professional ball, including 4 years in MLB between the Red Sox and the New York Mets. Following

Elijah "Pumpsie" Green was the first Black player to play for the Boston Red Sox, the final team in Major League Baseball to integrate, in July of 1959. He played 13 years of professional ball, including 4 years in MLB between the Red Sox and the New York Mets.

Following his baseball career, Green graduated from San Fransisco State University with a physical education degree. He worked for the Berkeley Unified School District in California for 25 years, running the baseball program, coaching baseball, teaching mathematics, and even doing some security work before retiring in 1997. The baseball pioneer touched so many lives both on the field and off.