Joe Black

Joseph Black (February 8, 1924 – May 17, 2002) was an American professional baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Elite Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, and Washington Senators. Black became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, in 1952.

Education and military service A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, he starred at Plainfield High School. Black was drafted by the US Army during World War II and served for two and a half years in the Medical Corp. He was stationed stateside in Long Island, Texas and Missouri, where he played for various camp sports teams. He attended Morgan State University originally playing football, basketball and track, and returned after his Army discharge graduating in 1950 with a degree in psychology and physical education.

Black died of prostate cancer at age 78 on May 17, 2002. He was interred in the Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

Honors and awards The Arizona Fall League's Most Valuable Player award is named for Black. First presented in 2002, the award honors the 1952 National League Rookie of the Year.

In 2010, the Plainfield, NJ school board named the Plainfield High School baseball complex "The Joe Black Baseball Field" in his honor.