Mr. Irvin
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Monte Irvin, who helped integrate major league baseball, dies at 96
Monte Irvin, a trailblazing baseball star and the oldest surviving Negro Leagues player, died Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, of natural causes at a retirement community in Houston. He was 96. Had it not been for a contractual issue with the Negro Leagues’ Newark Eagles in New Jersey, Mr. Irvin — and not Jackie Robinson — might have been the first African-American to play in the modern big leagues. Eagles owner Effa Manley would not allow Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey to acquire Mr. Irvin without financial compensation.
