rental car provided by the Indians for transportation. During spring training, Doby read books concerning outfield play, and received instruction and encouragement from former Indians manager Tris Speaker and Indians' farm system director Hank Greenberg. Doby also credited Indians coach Bill McKechnie with helping him adjust to the majors and learning the outfield. In an exhibition game in Houston against the New York Giants, Doby hit a home run that "may have traveled 500 feet before landing far beyond the fence in center field." As Moore wrote in his biography of Doby, "With that home run, all doubts that Doby would make the 1948 Cleveland team vanished. That year, he played in 121 games and hit .301 for the season with 14 home runs and 66 RBIs. Throughout the regular season Doby was racially abused by opposing teams, and Veeck asked AL president Will Harridge for support in getting players to rein in their animosity towards Doby. Doby played a major role in Cleveland's World Series victory against the Boston Braves. In Game 4 on October 9, Doby hit the first home run by a black player in World Series history. A picture featuring an embrace between Doby and white teammate Steve Gromek, who had pitched a complete game that day, was on the cover of the next day's Plain Dealer. Richard Goldstein of The New York Times called the photograph "a signature moment in the integration of Major League Baseball." Of the picture, Doby said, "The picture was more rewarding and happy for me than actually hitting the home run. The picture finally showed a moment of a man showing his feelings for me." The Indians defeated the Braves in six games and with it, Cleveland had its first World Series championship since the 1920 season. Doby's .318 batting average during the Series led the Indians. Nationally syndicated columnist Grantland Rice argued that without Doby and Gene Bearden, who had won 20 games that year, the Indians would have finished in fourth or fifth place. After the Series, Doby received a celebratory parade in Paterson, New Jersey, and during the offseason he, along with other teammates, appeared in the 1949 film The Kid From Cleveland. With additional income available due to the post-season run and Series championship, Doby and his wife attempted to buy a home in Paterson in an all-white neighborhood but were kept out by a petition