Major League Career
Green made his debut as a pinch runner against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. He also started the next game at second base, going 0-for-3. One week after Green's debut, pitcher Earl Wilson was called up, becoming the Red Sox's second black player. Green would play 50 games during the 1959 season, batting .233 and playing second base almost exclusively.
Green enjoyed a much more full-time role in 1960, playing 133 games, 69 at second base and 41 at shortstop.
Green may have had his best season in 1961, posting career highs in home runs (6), RBI (27), doubles (12), and stolen bases (4), although he also had the most errors of his career that year, with 16. Despite a hot start to the season, Green developed a appendicitis in Washington, D.C. in May, which put him out of the lineup for about four weeks, and kept him from playing at full strength for even longer.
In 1962, after a weekend of humiliating losses to the New York Yankees, Green along with Gene Conley got off the bus in the middle of a traffic jam in the Bronx. They were not spotted until 3 days later by a New York Post sports reporter at the Idlewild International Airport trying to board a plane for Israel, with no passports or luggage.
After the 1962 season, Green was traded to the New York Mets along with Tracy Stallard and Al Moran in exchange for Felix Mantilla. Green played the majority of the 1963 season with the Buffalo Bisons, but also played 17 games with the Mets. He played his final major league game with the Mets on September 26, 1963, although Green would play two more seasons in the minor leagues before retiring after the 1965 season. In a five-season major league career, Green was a .246 hitter with 13 home runs and 74 RBI in 344 games.
Read more about this topic: Pumpsie Green
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