[MorganMiller1926]

Originally Posted by Cusick

But there were a few (3) African-American players in the major leagues in the 19th century. Unfortunately, after their appearances, the disgraceful color barrier was established and maintained in the major leagues until Jackie Robinson came along to eliminate it permanently in 1947.

While Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby made monumental contributions towards integrating their respective leagues and being the first two Blacks in the major leagues, with Robinson being the first African-American in organized baseball in 1946, in my opinion, Minnie Minoso is not given enough credit for being "The Jackie Robinson Of The Caribbean and Latin America". Minoso was the first Black Latino to reach the major leagues (1949) and he was the first Black Latino to be chosen to play in a major league all-star game (1951). He wound up being selected to major league all-star teams for seven years, this after being a Negro Leagues all-star for two years. His success made it possible for Roberto Clemente to reach the major leagues in 1955 and it influenced many future generations of waves of "latinos of color" who have reached the major leagues since. If you break down the population of major league players in 2019 you will find about 30% or more of players are foreign-born and have come from the Caribbean and a majority of these Latinos either are what could be classified as Black Latinos or Latinos Of Mixed Races. Still Minoso, with excellent career numbers, even though his entry into major league baseball was delayed because the color barrier was still in place in his early 20s, has been shut out from his place in Cooperstown, a place which I believe he richly deserves. Hopefully, this will change some day and the earliest opportunity to elect him to the Baseball Hall Of Fame will come when he is a "Golden Days" (1950-1969) Era candidate in December 2020 for the BBHOF Class Of 2021. I fervently hope that his HOF candidacy will prove to be successful at that time.