When it came time to write this article, I wanted to give a “tip of the cap” to both Ozzie Virgil and Jake Wood. Thanks to Jackie Robinson, the two players would provide significant impacts on baseball culture in Detroit.
Ozzie Virgil Sr
Ozzie Virgil was the first black player to break the color line in Detroit. But in fact, he was Dominican so he also was the first Latino Tiger player. But he also had another important historical title.
In 1956, he was the first player from the Dominican Republic to play in the majors when he debuted for the New York Giants.