- Posted in All University
- Category: Campus News
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. — Former Lincoln University three-sport athlete Monte Irvin has been away from baseball for years, but he was enshrined once more for his contributions to a team and a sport he helped revolutionize.
Saturday at AT&T Park in San Francisco, the Giants retired Irvin’s No. 20, becoming the 11th jersey retired by one of baseball’s most iconic clubs.
Irvin played baseball and football and ran track at Lincoln from 1938 to 1939. This past fall, Irvin was inducted into the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame because of his time at LU.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, the 91-year-old Irvin said in a pregame ceremony, “It’s a pleasure to be here. At my state in life, it’s a pleasure to be anywhere. Now I feel like my life in baseball is complete.”
Irvin and teammate Hank Thompson became the first African-Americans to play for the then-New York Giants on July 8, 1949. In 1951, the duo teamed with the young phenom Willie Mays to form the first all-black outfield. Mays and Gaylord Perry, among other Giants legends, were on hand for the celebration.
He finished his nine-year major league career with a .293 average, 99 homers, 443 RBIs and 366 runs scored. His best individual season came in 1951 when he batted .312 with 24 home runs and a major-league best 121 RBIs as part of a third-place effort in the National League MVP voting.
After retiring following the 1958 season, Irvin became the first African-American to work in the MLB Commissioner’s Office when he accepted a position under Bowie Kuhn as a public relations specialist, a post he occupied from 1968-1984. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Irvin, an Orange, N.J. native, resides in Houston.
A photo gallery of the day, courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle, can be accessed here: Monte Irvin’s No. 20 Retired
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Lincoln University ∙ 15710 Baltimore Pike ∙ Lincoln University, PA 19352
Lincoln University – founded in 1854 as the nation’s first Historically Black University – combines the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the needs of those living in a highly technological and global society. The University enrolls approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students.
Internationally recognized for preparing learners and producing world-class leaders in their fields, Lincoln has created five academic Centers of Excellence-programs of distinctions. They are: Lincoln-Barnes Visual Arts, Grand Research Educational Awareness and Training (GREAT) for Minority Health, Mass Communications, Teacher Education and Urban Pedagogy and Business and Information Technology.