A native of Camden, South Carolina, and three-sport all-state athlete while in high school in Paterson, New Jersey, Doby accepted a basketball scholarship from Long Island University.

His military service complete, Doby returned to baseball in 1946, and along with teammate Monte Irvin, helped the Eagles win the Negro League World Series.

In July 1947, three months after Jackie Robinson made history with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Doby broke the color barrier in the American League when he signed a contract to play with Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians.

A seven-time All-Star center fielder, Doby and teammate Satchel Paige were the first African-American players to win a World Series championship when the Indians took the crown in 1948.

[1]: p.7  Doby's father served in World War I. David worked as a horse groomer and played semi-professional baseball, but drowned in an accident at age 37 in New York state.

"[3] After completing eighth grade, Doby moved north to Paterson at the age of 14 to be reunited with his mother; she visited him weekly while he lived with one of her friends.

[1]: p.11 [4]: p.30  At Paterson Eastside High School, Doby was a multi-sport athlete; as well as playing baseball and basketball, he was a wide receiver in football and lettered in track.

[1]: p.23 In the summer before he enrolled at LIU, Doby accepted an offer to play for the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League (NNL) for the remainder of the 1942 season,[1]: p.19 [7]: p.83  and he transferred to Virginia Union University as a result.

[1]: p.20  The contract stated Doby would play until September when he would start classes at college; to protect his amateur status he signed using the alias "Larry Walker" and local reporters were told he originated from Los Angeles, California.

[10]: p.68  He appeared on an all-black baseball squad and maintained a .342 batting average against teams composed of white players, some of which featured major leaguers.

Before serving in the Pacific Theater of World War II, Doby spent time at Navy sites in Ogden, Utah and San Diego, California.

[citation needed] Manager Biz Mackey led the Eagles, including Doby, Monte Irvin and Johnny Davis, to the Negro World Series championship over Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Monarchs in seven games to conclude the 1946 season.

"[15] Cleveland Indians owner and team president Bill Veeck proposed integrating baseball in 1942, which had been informally segregated since the turn of the century, but this was rejected by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

In the 1949 movie The Kid from Cleveland, Veeck tells the story that Gordon struck out on three swings in his immediate at-bat after Doby to save face for his new teammate.

The segregated arrangement established a pattern, on Doby's first day, that he would be compelled to follow, in spring training and during the regular season, in many cities, throughout his playing career.

[23] In an exhibition game in Houston against the New York Giants, Doby hit a home run that "may have traveled 500 feet before landing far beyond the fence in center field.

Nationally syndicated columnist Grantland Rice argued that without Doby and Gene Bearden, who had won 20 games that year, the Indians would have finished in fourth or fifth place.

[38]: p.115  With additional income available due to the post-season run and Series championship, Doby and his wife attempted to buy a home in Paterson in an all-white neighborhood but were kept out by a petition from members of the community.

He was one of five Indians selected by Boudreau and joined Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe as the first black players to be amongst those chosen to participate in the 1949 All-Star Game.

[47][48] Indians manager Al López confirmed that Doby was injury-riddled throughout the season, stating that he "was beset by first one injury and then another" including "a muscle tear in his thigh, a groin pull, an ankle twist.

[39]: p.131  In what would prove his final career All-Star at bat, Doby hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at 9–9; the AL squad went on to win, 11–9.

[70] The White Sox won eight straight games, the longest winning streak in the AL to that point in the season, and had done so with the help of Doby's six home runs during the eight-game stretch.

[72][73] His 1957 home run total of 14 tied for the team-high, as he managed a .288 average and recorded 79 RBIs, second-highest on the team after former Indians teammate Minnie Miñoso.

[78][79] After 21 games with the White Sox, he was sent to Triple-A affiliate San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League after hitting .241 with no home runs and 9 RBIs.

[84] In late April he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League on a trial basis but was released by the team on May 6 after X-rays showed bone deterioration in his affected ankle.

The New York Times wrote, "In glorifying those who are first, the second is often forgotten ... Larry Doby integrated all those American League ball parks where Jackie Robinson never appeared.

[16] Scoop Jackson in 2007 wrote, in response to the tradition of MLB players wearing jerseys in homage of Robinson, "Second place finishers in America are suckers.

Larry Doby came up as a second baseman who didn't have time to get his full college education, and was forced to play a different position in his first major league season.

Among those present at the ceremony were former star pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Indians president Mark Shapiro, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, and various members of Doby's family.

[131] In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Doby as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Navy during World War II.