Most baseball fans remember Al Downing as the answer to the trivia question, “Who surrendered Henry Aaron’s 715th home run?” What Downing is lesser known for is that he was a very good pitcher for the Yankees in the 1960s and due to a combination of factors, saw some stellar performances fly under the radar. Yet despite the historical link to Aaron, perhaps his most important connection to baseball history is that he was the first African-American pitcher for baseball’s most storied franchise. Furthermore, that connection is more than just a trivial note in baseball history, as it’s still a relevant issue in the game some six decades later.
The legacy of the underappreciated Al Downing
