From NYT story about Al Downing, who gave up Hank Aaron's 715th home run:
Quote:
He broke into major league baseball with the Yankees in 1961 and generally is regarded as the Yankees’ first African-American starting pitcher. Once called the black Sandy Koufax, Downing played 17 seasons and finished with a record of 123-107 and a 3.22 earned run average. He was an All-Star in 1967, led the American League in strikeouts in 1964 and led the National League in shutouts in 1971.
Anybody know why there should be some doubt about this?