Celebrate being Last?!

The famous individual to the left is Elijah "Pumpsie" Green. He's the first black man to ever play for the Boston Red Sox. As I was reading ESPN's front page looking for news, I happened upon Howard Bryant's article about this man who's name I didn't know and why he is wearing a Red Sox jersey. The reason he isn't well-known is because as Bryant says he's the last black man to integrate a professional baseball organization. Boston was honoring his 50th anniversary as the first black man to ever adorn the Red Sox uniform.
Are you kidding me? The stories of Boston's prejudice are well documented but to honor an anniversary such as this is a waste of time in my opinion.

As a southern female, I expect situations such as this to happen down here because we are still stuck in a time-warp, bubble, or any other form of medium that keeps us stuck in the pre-Civil Rights era. For a city as cultured and pioneering in the form of integration and progress, this sickens me. How could you even think this is worthy of celebration? Being the last team in Major League Baseball to integrate. Especially 12 years after Jackie Robinson made his impact.

Most of what I've said is pretty much covered in Howard Bryant's article but I do want to say no matter how embarrassing as it should be to Red Sox nation, it's still a great achievement for him regardless of how late it was. He's still saying they took a chance and they chose me to do it.

I salute you "Pumpsie" but I feel as a pioneer you should have more respect than that because it did not make mainstream news nor did I know of your accomplishment.