While baseball is known as “America’s Past-time”, the sport was not always open for all Americans to play. It was not until Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers decided to take a risk with African-American baseball player Jackie Robinson that all of the players in the MLB were white. The Detroit Tigers team has a proud history of opening the dugout and clubhouse to players from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
The first African-American player signed by the Tigers was Larry Doby, who wore the Old English D in 1959 after a lengthy career with the Cleveland Indians.