Editing Monte Irvin (section)

==MLB career==
In 1949, the New York Giants paid $5,000 for Irvin's contract. He was one of the first black players to be signed, as [[Jackie Robinson]] had only broken the MLB [[Baseball color line|color line]] in 1947. Assigned to Jersey City of the [[International League]], Irvin batted .373. He debuted with the Giants on July 8, 1949, as a [[pinch hitter]]. Back with Jersey City in 1950, he was called up after hitting .510 with ten home runs in 18 games. Irvin batted .299 for the Giants that season, playing [[first baseman|first base]] and the outfield.

In 1951, Irvin sparked the Giants' miraculous comeback to overtake the Dodgers in the pennant race, batting .312 with 24 homers and a league-best 121 [[run batted in|runs batted in]] (RBI), en route to the [[1951 World Series|World Series]] (he went 11–24 for .458). 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 (baseball)|Shot Heard 'Round the World]]. That year Irvin teamed with [[Hank Thompson (baseball)|Hank Thompson]] and [[Willie Mays]] to form the first all-black outfield in the majors. Later, he finished third in the NL's MVP voting.

During that season, Giants manager [[Leo Durocher]] asked Irvin to serve as a mentor for Mays, who had been called up to the team in May. Mays later said, "In my time, when I was coming up, you had to have some kind of guidance. And Monte was like my brother ... I couldn't go anywhere without him, especially on the road ... It was just a treat to be around him. I didn't understand life in New York until I met Monte. He knew everything about what was going on and he protected me dearly."<ref name=Haft>{{cite web|last1=Haft|first1=Chris|title=Irvin played big part in Mays' ascension|url=http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/28565986/|work=[[MLB.com]]|access-date=December 28, 2014|date=April 13, 2012|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000738/http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/28565986/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Irvin later replied, "I did that for two years and in the third year he started showing me around."<ref name=Haft/>

Irvin suffered a broken ankle during a spring training game in Denver in 1952, jamming his ankle on third base while sliding. "It was a horrible thing to see," reported Mays.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mays|first=Willie|title=Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays|url=https://archive.org/details/sayheyautobiogra00mays_0|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1988|isbn=0671632922|page=[https://archive.org/details/sayheyautobiogra00mays_0/page/100 100]}}</ref> However, Irvin returned in time to be named to his only [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game]] in 1952. He appeared in only 46 games that season, hitting .310 with four home runs and 21 RBI.<ref name=Leg>{{cite news|last1=Lacy|first1=Sam|title=Bums, to a man, regret injury to Monte Irvin|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2205&dat=19520408&id=ysYlAAAAIBAJ&pg=3706,6048112|access-date=November 28, 2014|work=[[Baltimore Afro-American]]|date=April 8, 1952}}</ref><ref name=BR/> Irvin hit .329 with 21 home runs and 97 RBI in 1953, finishing 15th in the league MVP voting. The following season, he hit .262 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI,<ref name=BR/> with the Giants winning the pennant and facing the [[Cleveland Indians]] in the [[1954 World Series]]. Irvin was in left field when Mays, playing center field, made "[[The Catch (baseball)|The Catch]]" on a deep drive off the bat of [[Vic Wertz]] in Game 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1954/B09290NY11954.htm |title=New York Giants 5, Cleveland Indians 2 |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=September 29, 1954 |access-date=April 15, 2020}}</ref> The Giants went on to win the Series in four games, with Irvin collecting two hits in nine at bats.<ref name=WS54>{{cite web|title=1954 World Series|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1954_WS.shtml|publisher=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=December 28, 2014}}</ref>

In 1955, Irvin had been sent down to the minor leagues, where he hit 14 home runs in 75 games for the [[Minneapolis Millers]]. The [[Chicago Cubs]] signed him before the 1956 season. The team said that he would compete with [[Hank Sauer]] for a starting position in left field.<ref name=BAA>{{cite news|title=Monte Irvin signs Cubs' contract|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2205&dat=19560103&id=BeclAAAAIBAJ&pg=2483,3811533|access-date=November 28, 2014|work=[[Baltimore Afro-American]]|date=January 3, 1956}}</ref> Irvin appeared in 111 games for the Cubs that year, hitting .271 with 15 home runs.<ref name=BR>{{cite web|title=Monte Irvin Statistics and History|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/i/irvinmo01.shtml|publisher=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=28 November 2014}}</ref>

A back injury led to Irvin's retirement as a player in 1957. He sustained the injury during spring training that year and only appeared in four minor league games for the [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|Los Angeles Angels]] of the [[Pacific Coast League]].<ref name="Sentinel">{{Cite news |date=1957-05-12 |title=Aching Back Forces Irvin to Quit Game |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/springfield-news-sun-aching-back-forces/163363192/ |access-date=2025-01-18 |work=Springfield News-Sun |page=5C |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> In his major league career, Irvin batted .293, with 99 home runs, 443 RBI, 366 [[Run (baseball)|runs scored]], 731 [[hit (baseball)|hits]], 97 [[Double (baseball)|doubles]], 31 [[triple (baseball)|triples]], and 28 [[stolen base]]s, with 351 [[Base on balls|walks]] for a .383 [[on-base percentage]], and 1187 total bases for a .475 [[slugging average]] in 764 games played. Defensively, Irvin recorded a .981 [[fielding percentage]].<ref name=BR/>