like a quarterback with 5,000 cheerleaders calling his name. You know most of them couldn't afford to be there. I never forgot them." Shortly after the Indians had honored Doby by naming a nearby street after him, The Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston wrote, "The Larry Doby way of pioneering was the same as the Jackie Robinson way in the National League, only Doby's debut occurred six short weeks later and with almost no advance preparation by Doby or the Indians." Doby threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, played at Jacobs Field. The decision to have the game in Cleveland coincided with the 1997 season marking the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier. It was also 50 years and 3 days since Doby became the first black player in the American League. Hall of Fame Doby was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on March 3, 1998, by the Veterans Committee at the age of 74. "This is just a tremendous feeling. It's kind of like a bale of cotton has been on your shoulders, and now it's off", said Doby. When he received word about his election, it was by a telephone call from fellow Hall member Ted Williams. Upon hearing of Doby's election, Gene Mauch, said, "You have to be some kind of special person to go through what Larry and Jackie Robinson went through. They both are. I'm not too sure there's a player in the game today who could handle it." He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on July 26, 1998. Doby became the first member born in South Carolina elected to the Hall. Although he was the first to play in MLB, Doby was the last member elected to the Hall of the four players to ever play in both a Negro league and MLB World Series, the others being Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, and Willie Mays. Death and legacy Doby and his wife, Helyn, had five children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. When the Dobys moved to Montclair, Yogi Berra and his wife became neighborhood friends and children of the two families played baseball and football together. Doby had a kidney removed in 1997 after a cancerous tumor was detected. Helyn, married to Doby for 55 years, died in 2001 after a six-month battle with cancer.