Green (Elijah “Pumpsie”) is born in Boley, Oklahoma.

Pumpsie Green grows up in California, plays minor league baseball, and becomes the first African-American player for the Boston Red Sox in 1959.* He lives in Dorchester during the season and plays 327 games for the Red Sox, before being selected in the expansion draft by the New York Mets in 1963. Green subsequently reflects, “I never relaxed in Boston. Every game to me was like Opening Day. I felt pressure all of the time. Some of it might have been self-imposed.” After retiring from baseball, he graduates from San Francisco State University, then serves as a counselor and coach at Berkeley High School. Green dies in San Leandro, California, on July 17, 2019.