While much is made of Jackie Robinson's 1947 debut in the major leagues - and deservedly so - often overlooked is that just three months later, Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League, and the second to break the color barrier. The first Black player to make the jump directly from the Negro Leagues to the majors, Doby had a difficult time in 1947, even from his own teammates, and only started in one game that season. 

In 1948, however, Doby won a starting outfield job, and batted .301 with 14 home runs and 66 RBI. In the 1948 World Series, Doby became the first Black player to hit a Series home run, and along with his teammate Satchel Paige, became the first black players with a World Series ring. His major league career lasted 12 seasons, which, coupled with his Negro League record, gave him a 17-year career with a .288 lifetime batting average, 273 home runs and 1,099 RBI. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998 by the Veteran's Committee.

Despite being a prolific signer of autographs, the number of signed examples of his rookie card - the 1948 Bowman card presented here - is fairly small. Just 22 examples have been assessed by PSA, an illustration of how signed cards were frowned upon in the time Doby was signing. Of the 22 examples, only one other has attained a grade of EX/MT 7 from PSA. Sharp and clean, the card is centered slightly low on the canvas, with lightly-touched corners consistent with the grade.  Doby carefully signed the card in blue ballpoint in the yellow background above his hands, his hands not encroaching on his image.  A beautiful example with a dark, legible signature graded NM-MT 8 by PSA, due to some very light inconsistencies in ink coverage. Regardless, one of the finest examples of a signed Larry Doby rookie card in existence.