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Agenda Item No. 4(A) CITY OF EL CERRITO PROCLAMATION Recognition of Pumpsie Green WHEREAS, Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green, grew up in Richmond and attended El Cerrito High School, graduating in 1952. He played three years of varsity basketball and baseball, making all league in baseball and attended Contra Costa College in San Pablo where he also played baseball. Mr. Green was inducted into the El Cerrito High School Wall of Fame. He raised his family and continues to live in El Cerrito with his wife of over fifty years, Marie. He retired from major league baseball in 1965 and thereafter coached baseball for twenty five years at Berkeley High School. Mr. Green was a student supervisor and also taught mathematics one summer at Berkeley High. He also worked as a part time Recreation Leader for the City of Berkeley; and WHEREAS, Mr. Green's dream to play for the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League became a reality when he was 19 years old and after two years of playing with the Oak's farm team in Washington he moved up to Stockton, the Oak's top farm club in the California League; and WHEREAS, the Boston Red Sox purchased Mr. Green's contract during the 1955 season with the intention of sending him to Montgomery, Alabama; however Mr. Green convinced the organization to let him finish the year in Stockton where he was named Most Valuable Player in the California State League, ending with a .319 average, 12 homers and 83 RBis. In 1956, Mr. Green headed to Spring Training for the Red Sox in Florida and encountered problems with segregation and racism in Florida and began making his climb up Boston's Minor League ladder; and WHEREAS, at the end of the 1957 season, Mr. Green earned a promotion and returned home to play for the San Francisco Seals where he helped them win their last pennant that season. Mr. Green later played for the Minneapolis Millers, a minor league affiliate of the Red Sox and then headed to the highly segregated town of Scottsdale, Arizona for Spring Training in 1959 with a chance to be Boston's starting shortstop. Mr. Green was constantly reminded that the Red Sox were the only team in all of baseball that was still segregated; and WHEREAS, despite a tremendous spring, Mr. Green was sent back to Minneapolis which caused an uproar throughout Boston and baseball. On July 21, 1959 he was asked to return to Chicago where he joined the team and pinch-ran for Vic Wertz making his first start against Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn. When he passed the White Sox dugout at Comiskey Park, an old baseball teammate, Jim Landis, yelled, "Hey, El Cerrito. You have a good season." On August 4, at Fenway Park, Pumpsie Green received a rousing, standing ovation when he got up to the plate to bat. NOW THEREFORE, although Mr. Green "would like to be remembered in Red Sox history as just another ball player aside from being the last of the first..." the City Council of the City of El Cerrito hereby proclaims its recognition of Mr. Elijah "Pumpsie" Green for his distinguished stature in baseball history as the first African-American ever to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team in the major leagues to integrate. Dated: February 21, 2012 William C. Jones, III, Mayor