Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, the first black player for the Boston Red Sox, which in 1959 became the last major league team to integrate its roster, died July 17 at a hospital in San Leandro, Calif.

BOSTON — Former Boston Red Sox infielder Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, the first black player on the last major league team to field one, has died. He was 85. The Red Sox said Green, who live… ...

Pumpsie Green, left, with Boston Red Sox, manager Billy Jurges July 22, 1959, in Chicago, before a game against the White Sox. It was Green's first day with the Boston's big-league team.

BOSTON (AP) — Former Boston Red Sox infielder Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, the first black player on the last major league team to field one, has died. He was 85. The Red Sox said Green, who lived in ...

Elijah "Pumpsie" Green threw out a ceremonial first pitch for the Red Sox's baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Boston in 2009. Charles Krupa/Associated Press.

Pumpsie Green — his given name is Elijah — lives in El Cerrito, California. He never publicly disclosed the origin of his nickname, only that his mother started calling him that when he was young.

Pumpsie Green is 83 now. He has been back to Fenway, throwing out a first pitch in 2009, but he hasn’t been a major figure in the reminiscences of recent years and never sought the limelight.

Green found Ted Williams to be especially welcoming. Elijah Jerry Green Jr. — nicknamed Pumpsie by his mother, Gladys, as a child, though he was never sure why — was born on Oct. 27, 1933, in ...

Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, the first black player in Boston Red Sox history, died on Wednesday in San Leandro. He was 85.

When Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, the first black player on the Boston Red Sox, walked to the plate at Fenway Park for the first time in 1959, the fans rose to cheer him on.

Green played parts of four seasons with the Red Sox before finishing his career with one year on the New York Mets. In all, he batted .246 with 13 homers and 74 RBIs. Elijah "Pumpsie" Green poses ...