[2] Moreover, he was the first black player to perform in the Pacific Coast League in 32 years, when pitcher Jimmy Claxton passed as part Native American in 1916.

[6] At age 15, Ritchey and another black player, Nelson Manuel, starred on the Post Six American Legion squad that won the Junior World Series held at Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1938, even though neither could play in the tournament because in Spartanburg they did not allow blacks to share the game field with white players.

[2] Two years later, the Post 6 club, again led by Ritchey and Manuel, returned to the American Legion finals held in North Carolina.

But a short time after that, he was recruited along with the rest of his generation and had to join the Army during World War II, serving 27 months in a combat engineering outfit and seeing service at the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge as well as in the South West Pacific theatre, while earning five battle stars along with staff sergeant stripes.

He posted a .381 batting average to lead the circuit, edging Birmingham Black Barons star shortstop Artie Wilson by just .008, as Jackie Robinson was making history and breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball.

[3] With the color barrier already broken by Robinson, the Chicago Cubs scouted Ritchey while playing with the American Giants at Comiskey Park and invited him for a tryout at Wrigley Field in September 1948.

[10] In 1949, Ritchey slumped offensively to .257/.341/.321 with three homers and 12 stolen bases, though he recorded a solid .995 fielding average, while committing only two errors over 421 chances as a backup for Dee Moore.

[1] He then played only one game for Portland in 1951 before joining the Vancouver Capilanos, the Western International League farm club of the PCL Seattle Rainiers, where he enjoyed a career season, winning the WIL batting crown with a .346 average.

He also posted career numbers in homers (7), RBI (86), runs scored (91), hits (156), doubles (26), steals (20), OBP (.492), SLG (.472), OPS (.965), receiving more walks than strikeouts (126 to 34) in 137 games.

[9][12] Ritchey came back to Vancouver in 1952 and hit .343/.504/.447 in 137 games, including career-highs with 96 runs, eight triples and 27 stolen bases, once more receiving again more walks than strikeouts (144 to 30).

"[1] In 2005, the San Diego Padres unveiled the bust in the PCL Bar & Grill at Petco Park along the first base line.