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'Oil Can,' others, look to reverse exodus of black ballplayers

By John Helyar
ESPN.com

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd looks more like a well-traveled jazz-band leader than an apostle of African-American baseball. Resplendent in a green jump suit, his upper shirt unbuttoned to expose his chest, he could be pulling into another town for another one-night stand. Instead, on this late afternoon in June, the 47-year-old former big league pitcher is rolling into the parking lot of 88-year-old Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Mass. Head south now to Richmond, Va., and consider an unknown face in an ...

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