Larry Doby

Doby's statue is outside the gates at Progressive Field. His bronze likeness has been captured in the middle of the most exhilarating moment in baseball: right after a home run. Doby's front foot is planted and prepared to launch him around the bases. His eyes are fixed on an imaginary first base, determined and focused. His hands, swung out to his right, are throwing the bat behind him. Doby is leaning forward, full tilt, and his feet are on the furthest edges of the base, ready to spring off at a moment's notice. Though he may be a statue, some people still feel like they're in danger of being knocked over when they're in his path.

But the trails that Doby blazed weren't always just around the bases, in the record books, or on the stat sheets. Doby blazed the trail for integration on every front when he became the second Black player in the MLB, the first in the American League. He signed with the Cleveland Indians just three months after Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Then in 1948, Doby became the first Black player to ever hit a home run in the World Series, which would result in the Cleveland Indians most recent championship, as of 2017.

It is hard enough to make it to the MLB as is, but to make it and thrive like Doby did in the face of so much resentment, so many obstacles, and such great odds, is truly a feat that no monument could ever conceivably do justice, but Deming's magnificent tribute to one of the most historic players of all time certainly comes close.