September 17, 1976: Bill Lucas Becomes the 1st Black GM In MLB

September 17, 1976, 50 years ago: The Atlanta Braves promote Bill Lucas to the office of general manager. This makes him the 1st black man to hold that position in Major League Baseball.

This came 2 years after Frank Robinson was appointed the 1st black manager, 14 years after Buck O'Neil became the 1st black coach, and 29 years after Jackie Robinson became the 1st black player since 1884.

William DeVaughn Lucas was born on January 25, 1936 in Jacksonville, graduated from the historically black Florida A&M University, and signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 -- partly because his sister, Barbara, was married to Braves star Hank Aaron. (They later split up, and Aaron remarried.) An infielder, he never reached the major leagues, although he did miss 2 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He joined the Braves' front office in 1965, as they were preparing their move to Atlanta for the next season.

In 1972, he was named director of their farm system, a common position from which teams have promoted men to the GM position. Atlanta was the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., former Mayor William Hartsfield had billed it as "the City Too Busy to Hate," Maynard Jackson had been elected as its 1st black Mayor in 1973, and Aaron had broken the career home run record at Atlanta Stadium in 1974. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the following year.)

Lucas was in the process of building the team that would become the centerpiece of team owner Ted Turner's national "SuperStation TBS" over the next few years, including Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Brett Butler and Steve Bedrosian.

But Lucas would not live to see his work come to fruition. On May 1, 1979, shortly after congratulating Braves ace Phil Niekro on his 200th career win (by phone, as Lucas was in Atlanta and the game was in Pittsburgh), he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died 4 days later, only 43 years old.

Murphy said, "Bill's dream was for this organization to become a success. It is our sacred honor to be chosen to fulfill his dream." Maybe it would have been fulfilled had he lived. But it didn't happen: They won the National League Western Division title in 1982, and almost won another in 1983, but that's as close as they got. The Braves did not win a Pennant between 1958, when they were still in Milwaukee, and 1991, when a new GM, John Schuerholz, put together the team that dominated the NL in the 1990s.

For his contributions to their organization, the Braves named Lucas to their team Hall of Fame.