NEW YORK -- More than a half-century ago when Larry Doby signed his first major league contract, Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck made a prediction.

		Baseball has lost a true pioneer in Larry Doby. Our society likes to focus on who's first. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to break baseball's color line, with the National League's Dodgers. But Larry Doby was only 11 weeks behind Robinson -- and he was the first to integrate the American League. I had numerous conversations with Larry over the years, on the golf course and elsewhere, and he told me he went through exactly what Jackie went through (and maybe worse). In 1948, African-American catcher Roy Campanella joined Jackie with the Dodgers, and in 1949 pitcher Don Newcombe joined them. But Larry was on his own. What I remember most about Larry is this: He didn't get the credit he should have gotten, but he never expressed animosity about it. He was never jealous of the adulation that Jackie received. I talked with Larry often, and he always praised Jackie. Larry and I were close enough friends that if there were any hard feelings, he would have told me. Neither he nor Jackie got the credit they deserved for their tremendous playing ability. Yes, Jackie was a pioneer, but fans forget that he was an MVP. And they forget that Larry led the AL in home runs and RBI. They're remembered for breaking the color barrier, but they're also in the Hall of Fame as players. I've said this about Jackie, and it's the same for Larry: We'll never know how great he could have been if he hadn't been forced to endure his unique crucible. He played under a different type of pressure than me and my contemporaries. Certainly, both would have been better players, but how much better? We'll never know.

" 'Lawrence,' -- he's the only person who called me Lawrence -- 'you are going to be part of history,' " Doby said Veeck told him that day.

Doby had more pressing thoughts.

"Part of history? I had no notions about that. I just wanted to play baseball," Doby recalled.

As it turned out, Doby did fine on both counts.

Doby, the first black player in the American League and a Hall of Fame outfielder, died June 18 after a long illness. He was believed to be 79.

Doby died at his home in Montclair, N.J., said his son, Larry Doby Jr.

On July 5, 1947, just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, Doby joined the Indians.

Doby became a seven-time All-Star in a 13-year career, most of it spent with Cleveland. He helped lead the Indians to their last World Series title in 1948.

"He was a great guy, a great center fielder and a great teammate," Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who played with Doby for nearly 10 seasons, said Wednesday night.

Later, with the 1978 Chicago White Sox, Doby became just the second black to manage a major league team, following Frank Robinson.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa worked on Doby's staff with the White Sox.

"I got to know him in '78. He brought me up to coach first for him, so I was with him for half a year. Man, that's really bad news," La Russa said.

"I kick myself. I saw his son early in the year and I asked him for his number and I didn't call him. And I regret it," he said.

There are discrepancies over Doby's age. Total Baseball listed his birth date as Dec. 13, 1923, while the Baseball Encyclopedia had it as Dec. 13, 1924. Even Doby's friends weren't sure of the exact date.

Doby hit .283 with 253 home runs and 969 RBI in a career that lasted through 1959. He was voted into the Hall of Fame by its Veterans Committee in 1998.

Yet on that historic day he joined the Indians, some teammates would not even shake his hand.

"Very tough," Doby once said. "I'd never faced any circumstances like that. Teammates were lined up and some would greet you and some wouldn't. You could deal with it, but it was hard."

Feller saw the struggles Doby went through.

"It was tough on him," he said. "Larry was very sensitive, more so than Robinson or Satchel Paige or Luke Easter or some of the other players who came over from the Negro Leagues. He was completely different from Jackie as a player. He was aggressive, but not like Jackie was."

Doby's No. 14 was retired by the Indians in 1994 -- 47 years to the date after he signed his contract with Cleveland.

	For more on Doby ...
	ESPN Classic will pay tribute to baseball legend, Larry Doby. The show will take place on Friday night from 8-11 p.m. ET with a re-air from 11p.m.-2a.m. ET.

Despite provocation from opposing players and fans, Doby kept his cool. He followed the advice of Veeck, who bought Doby's contract from the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League.

"He sat me down and told me some of the do's and don'ts," Doby once said. "No arguing with umpires. Don't even turn around at a bad call at the plate and no dissertations with opposing players -- either of those might start a race riot."

Even in later years, Doby did not dwell on the rough treatment he'd received.

"There's something in the Bible that says you should forgive and forget," Doby told the New York Post in 1999. "Well, you might forgive. But boy, it is tough to forget."

Seattle hitting coach Lamar Johnson was the White Sox first baseman under Doby.

"We talked a little about what things were like when he first came into the game, but he never went into details," Johnson said Wednesday night. "He said the game had come a long way in some regards and in some other regards it hadn't."

Doby was a second baseman when the Indians signed him. Two seasons later, as the team's starting center fielder, he helped Cleveland win the World Series, hitting a home run in Game 4 against the Boston Braves.

	Larry Doby, second from left, batted .301 during Cleveland's 1948 championship season.

"Larry Doby could do everything -- hit, run, field and throw," said Yogi Berra, a Veterans Committee member.

Doby hit at least 20 home runs in eight straight years, back in an era where home runs were not as common as they are now. He led the AL in homers in 1952 and 1954 -- hitting 32 each season -- and led the league in '54 with 126 RBI.

Doby played in six straight All-Star games. In 1949, he, Robinson, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe became baseball's first black All-Stars.

"It was a great feeling for me to look across the diamond and see other black faces," Doby told Ebony magazine in 1999. "I think I was more excited after the game after thinking about the history, but that day looking across the diamond and seeing those guys I no longer felt like I was all alone."

In 1942, at 17, he joined the Eagles and played under the name of Larry Walker to protect his amateur status. He played his first pro game at Yankee Stadium.

In 1943, Doby became the first black to play in the American Basketball League, a forerunner of the NBA, as a member of the Paterson (N.J.) Panthers.

Doby's Newark career was interrupted by two years in the Navy.

Along with the Indians, he played for the White Sox and Tigers before his career ended in 1959.

After retiring, Doby coached and was in the front office while with the Indians, White Sox and Montreal. He later worked in the commissioner's office.

Doby was director of community relations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets in the late 1970s and got involved in a number of inner-city youth programs.

Doby, of Paterson, and his wife, Helyn, had five children. She died of cancer in 2001.

Funeral arrangements were pending. Doby Jr. said services would be held no earlier than Saturday.