The Jackie Robinson Foundation extends congratulations to Joe Black on his recent induction to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.

Making his debut with the Dodgers on May 1, 1952, Black’s first Major League season was also his best etching his legacy with the team in stone. Pitching predominantly in relief, Black compiled a 15-4 record with 15 saves and a 2.15 ERA in 142 innings pitched, capturing the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

The first Black pitcher to win a World Series game Black started three games in the 1952 World Series vs. the NY Yankees winning one and losing two as the Dodgers were toppled by the Yankees four games to three. Black pitched in parts of three more seasons with the Dodgers and two more in the major leagues, retiring after the 1957 season. He is best remembered for his magical rookie season of 1952 in Brooklyn which is the impetus for his induction to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.

Among major league baseball’s pioneering integrationists, Black was the fifth Black player signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Crossing over from the Negro Leagues, Black made his major league debut on May 1, 1952. At the time he was the 25th Black player to make it to the major leagues.

He attended high school in his birthplace of Plainfield, New Jersey, and won a partial football scholarship to Morgan State College [now an HBCU] in Baltimore, MD.

Black spent parts of six seasons with the Baltimore Elite [“ee-light”] Giants of the Negro National League from 1943-1948, where in 1944, he was briefly a teammate of Roy Campanella his future teammate with the Dodgers, from 1952-1955. His time with the Elite Giants was interrupted by a two-and-half year stint serving the in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during WW II. He led the Elite Giants in games and innings pitched in official league games in 1947. He was the staff ace in 1948 with an 8-3 record a 1.91 ERA and was a member of the 1949 Negro League National Champion Elite Giants in 1949.

In 1951 Black and teammate Jim Gilliam’s contracts with the Elite Giants were purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers for $11,000.  Black spent the 1951 season pitching for the Dodgers minor league affiliates in Montreal and St. Paul, where he posted a combined 11-12 record with a 3.28 ERA.

A teammate and roommate of Jackie Robinson during his four years with the Dodgers (1952-1955), Black also served on the Jackie Robinson Foundation board of directors from 1979-2002.

Joe Black’s daughter Martha, accepts the honor on his behalf.

Baltimore Elite Giants