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MONTFORD "MONTE" IRVIN 
Montford Merrill "Monte" Irvin was born in Columbia, Alabama on February 25, 1919. He was the seventh of ten children born to Mary Eliza Henderson and Cupid Irvin. When Monte was eight years old, the family moved north to Orange, New Jersey.
He attended East Orange High School where he excelled at a number of sports. He set a state record for throwing the javelin. He was an all-state linebacker and was offered a football scholarship by the University of Michigan. However, he chose to pursue baseball and accepted an offer to attend Lincoln University in Oxford. In 1932, at the age of 18, Irvin joined the Newark Eagles of the Negro Baseball League. He initially played under the name of "Jimmy Nelson" in order to protect his amateur status as a student athlete. He remained with the Eagles until 1941. He hit a league-leading .422 in 1940 and .396 in 1941. After having a request for a pay rise rejected by Effa Manley, the owner of the Eagles, he walked out and headed for Mexico where he won the Triple Crown of the Mexican League. He was also awarded the MVP of the Puerto Rican Winter League and played in four East-West All-Star games. He served in the military for three years during the second world war, and when he returned to baseball in 1946, he rejoined the Eagles. He hit .389 in the regular season and batted .462 as he helped the Eagles win the Negro World Series against the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1947, Irvin led the league in home runs and RBIs. After the end of the 1948-49 Winter League season in Cuba, The New York Giants paid the Eagles $5,000 for Irvin's services. He made his debut on June 27, 1949. In 1951, Irvin became the first player from the Negro Leagues to win the RBI title. In the same year, the Giants succeeded in winning the pennant, and they made it to the World Series where despite losing to the Yankees, Irvin batted an incredible .458 in the six games. The 1951 season proved to be his most memorable in the Major Leagues. He played for another five seasons and retired after the end of the 1956 season. His Major League career consisted of 764 games, a batting average of .293 and 99 home runs. He went on to become a scout for the Mets, he also worked in public relations for the Baseball Commissioners office. Monte Irvin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. He currently resides in Florida. Links To Other Monte Irvin Internet Resources: Baseball-Reference.com - Monte Irvin Statistics National Baseball Hall Of Fame - Monte Irvin The Official Site of Monte Irvin Negro League Baseball Players Association - Monte Irvin BaseballLibrary.com - Monte Irvin SIGN UP TO OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER If you would like us to keep you updated with changes and improvements to thatsalabama.com, please enter your email address here: If you would like to support thatsalabama.com with a donation via paypal, please click on this button: |
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