Editor’s note: Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912. NESN.com will be celebrating Fenway’s 100-year anniversary with unique content from now until April 20, 2012.
Twelve years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pumpsie Green did the same for the Red Sox in 1959.
The only MLB team not to have included a black player to that point, the Red Sox changed that when Green made his major league debut on July 21. Green came on as a pinch runner in a 2-1 loss to the White Sox. Green would go on to play four seasons in Boston, hitting .246 and scoring 119 runs.
Ten days later Earl Wilson became the first black pitcher in team history when he took the mound for the Sox in a 6-5 win over the Tigers. Wilson would play in Boston for parts of seven seasons and threw a no-hitter at Fenway Park on June 26, 1962.
The debuts of Green and Wilson were the high points in an otherwise disappointing season for the Sox. The team finished with a record of 75-79, the first losing season in Boston since 1954. The squad finished 19 games behind the American League champion White Sox.
In July, Fenway made room for the Boston Jazz Festival, which included famous jazz musicians from around the world performing inside the park.
For more information on Fenway Park, visit Fenway Park 100.
