“I was almost on a cloud or in a trance or something,” he told the New England Sports Network long afterward. “I couldn’t breathe. I was so hyped up.”

Green received a congratulatory phone call from Jackie Robinson. The Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, whom Green knew from their playing days at the University of San Francisco, befriended him. Green found Ted Williams to be especially welcoming.

Elijah Jerry Green Jr. — nicknamed Pumpsie by his mother, Gladys, as a child, though he was never sure why — was born on Oct. 27, 1933, in Boley, Okla. At the outset of World War II, his family moved to Richmond, Calif., in the Bay Area, and his father and mother found jobs in defense work.

He played shortstop at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif., made his professional baseball debut with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, and joined the Red Sox farm system in 1956.

Green was a man apart at spring training with the Red Sox in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1959. The team’s hotel barred black guests, so the Red Sox found lodging for him at a hotel in nearby Phoenix, and he was driven to and from workouts by a team employee.

After his four years with the Red Sox, Green played in 17 games for the Mets in 1963. Appearing in 344 games, he had a career batting average of .246.

In July 1962, Green was briefly caught up in a bizarre episode. The Red Sox bus was stuck in traffic while approaching the George Washington Bridge en route to Newark Airport for a flight to Washington, after a loss to the Yankees in which the pitcher Gene Conley was knocked out of the game. As later related by Conley, he and Green asked permission to leave the bus to use a public restroom and went to a bar. When they returned to where the bus had been, it was gone. Green flew to Washington after the team’s plane left but missed a doubleheader with the Senators the next evening. Conley disappeared for several days and maintained that he had gone to Idlewild Airport, deciding on a whim to fly to Israel, but wasn’t allowed to board since he had no passport. Both Green and Conley were fined.