Farewell to Number 20

On the panel at AT&T park displaying the Giants retired numbers, you'll probably recognize Willie Mays' #24, Willie McCovey's #44 and Juan Marichal's #27. History buffs have read about Polo Grounds heroes Bill Terry #3, Mel Ott #4 and Carl Hubbell #11. Fellow Cooperstown inductees Orlando Cepeda #30 and Gaylord Perry #36 also have their place of honor.

Now, let's focus on #20 -- it represents Monte Irvin. The fourth black player in the majors and the Giants' second (after Hank Thompson), he made his big league debut in 1949. Two years later, having taken another talented black player Willie Mays under his wing, the Polo Grounds guys erased a 13-1/2 game lead and beat the Dodgers in the NL's first-ever playoff for the pennant.

One of New Jersey's greatest high school athletes ever, Irvin should have reached the majors a decade before he did. Instead, he spent eight years in the Negro Leagues (split by two years of military service during World War II), due to baseball's shameful ban on black players.

Once he arrived in the majors, Irvin established himself as someone special. In 1951, the years Mays arrived and Bobby Thomson smacked his historic home run, Irvin was the Giants' best player and led the National League with 121 RBIs, which helped finish third in the MVP voting. He hit well .458 in the World Series -- which the Yankees won in six hard-fought games.

A broken ankle cost him most of 1952; two years later, his production began to drop as he turned 35. Still, adding his major league accomplishments to his Negro League numbers, Monte became the fourth Negro Leaguer voted into the Hall of Fame.

Monty, who later worked as a Mets scout and served baseball as an assistant to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn -- the first African-American ever to receive an executive position with the MLB central office, passed away Monday at age 96. I never met Monte, though I am sure I saw him play at Old Timers Day games at Shea and Yankee Stadiums. There's one other memory of him many shared with baseball fans who came of age in New York during the 1960s -- while working in public relations for the Mets lead TV sponsor Rheingold Beer, he was a regular on the rain delay segments when their home games were held up by bad weather.
Monte Irvin was a champion on and off the field. A life well led -- one crowned with accomplishment, even after being shrouded early on by prejudice. 75 years of being a positive force in baseball.