Thompson, Irvin, and Smith began the 1949 campaign with the Jersey City Giants. Smith posted a mediocre 10-8 record for the season, but Thompson and Irvin spent the first half of the year tearing up the International League. Irvin, the bigger Negro League name, outshone Thompson with Jersey City, although Hank’s .296 batting average, 14 homers, sensational .447 on-base percentage, and lusty .565 slugging average in 68 games was pretty impressive. When the pair were called up to the parent club in July, Hank, who’d bounced between shortstop and left field with Jersey City, took over the parent Giants’ regular second-base job. While Irvin stumbled in his first big-league exposure, Thompson hit a credible .280 and belted nine homers in 75 games. He was originally slotted in the leadoff spot, but was shifted to the third spot in the Giants batting order late in the season.
Before his promotion to the Giants, Hank and Maria Quesada had been married in Brooklyn. That offseason he didn’t play in the Cuban Winter League for the first time since 1946-47.
Caption accompanying the photograph: Leo Durocher, Giants Manager, welcomes Henry Thompson of Los Angeles, left, and Monte Irvin of Orange, N.J., right, first Negro players to wear Giant uniforms. (7-6-49):
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