I would like to thank Jeff Lajoie for his article “One Day In July” which appeared on July 11, about my uncle Doug Smith.

However, those in Doug’s family were a bit disappointed that Lajoie didn’t delve just a little more into local sources for his information.

For sure, the biography of Doug Smith written by Michael Foster is the most complete version of Doug’s life to ever appear in print. Indeed any fan of the Red Sox should own a copy of “Opening Fenway Park In Style– the 1912 Champion Red Sox.” All of the members of that 1912 team are featured.

What Mr. Lajoie could have found out from those of us who knew Doug or have honored him with the mural described in the article, is an interesting back story. I have written numerous articles about Doug including “From Millers Falls to Fenway in 1912” and “Three Innings At Fenway, July 10, 1912” which have appeared in local newspapers. Richard Widmer, local artist and cinematographer, developed an idea for the mural based on photos I lent him, that local personnel from Millers Falls ArtsBridge, RiverCulture, and the Montague Town Administrator’s office found the funding and made the mural possible.

Lajoie even mentioned Doug and his parents here on River Street, without ever coming to knock on my door, the house where Doug was born.

To his credit, Michael Foster traveled out from Boston to interview myself and cousins Tom Gessing and Donald Scott, to get primary source information about the ballplayer.

It is ironic that in the same week, the Recorder noted the passing of Pumpsie Green, who broke the color line in Boston in 1959, and the history of Doug Smith, who in 1912, as noted by Mike Foster, “may have been the first African American ballplayer on the Red Sox, 35 years before Jackie Robinson.” Of course, as noted by Lajoie, when the Sox found that out, Doug was dropped from the team overnight.

Regardless, we are proud of our uncle, and in the light of today’s racial tensions, are pleased to know that Red Sox fans and the readers of the Recorder had the chance to be informed of the prejudice that was rampant then in 1912, as it is now.

David Brule is a resident of Millers Falls/Ervingside.