When future Hall of Famer Willie Mays joined the Giants in 1951, Irvin was asked to mentor him.

After his playing career, Irvin was a baseball scout and held an administrative role with the MLB commissioner's office.

At the time of his death, Irvin was the oldest living former Negro Leagues player, New York Giant and Chicago Cub.

At Orange High School, he starred in four sports, earning a total of 16 varsity letters and setting a state record in the javelin throw.

[2] Irvin played baseball for the Orange Triangles, the local semiprofessional team, and he credited its coach with giving him an activity that helped him to stay out of trouble.

He was offered a football scholarship to the University of Michigan, but he had to turn it down because he did not have enough money to move to Ann Arbor.

Larry Doby, the first player to break the color barrier in the American League, was Irvin's double play partner with Newark at one time.

Joining the army's GS Engineers, 1313th Battalion, for the next three years, Irvin was deployed to England, France, and Belgium, and he served in the Battle of the Bulge.

[8] The Newark Eagles business manager, Effa Manley, would not let Rickey sign Irvin without compensation.

Said Irvin, ... from a purely business standpoint, Mrs. Manley felt that Branch Rickey was obligated to compensate her for my contract.

That position probably delayed my entry into the major leagues ... Mrs. Manley told Rickey that he had taken Don Newcombe for no money but she wasn't going to let him take me without some compensation.

Furthermore, if he tried to do it, she would sue and fight him in court ... Rickey contacted her to say he was no longer interested released me ... the Giants picked up my contract ...[9]: p.277 Irvin earned MVP honors in the 1945–46 Puerto Rican Winter League.

In the third game of the playoff between the Giants and Dodgers, Irvin popped out in the bottom of the ninth inning before Bobby Thomson hit the Shot Heard 'Round the World.

That year Irvin teamed with Hank Thompson and Willie Mays to form the first all-black outfield in the majors.

The following season, he hit .262 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI,[13] with the Giants winning the pennant and facing the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series.

In 1974, Kuhn was present in Cincinnati when Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs.

[28][29] In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Irvin as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Army during World War II.

The Giants wore a patch in his memory for the 2016 season, a black circle with an orange outline with "Monte" on top of his number 20, to be worn on the left sleeve.

[35] The first results from this study were the statistics for Negro League Hall of Famers elected before 2006, which were published in Shades of Glory by Lawrence D. Hogan.