veeck sold the brewers in 1945 and temporarily retired to a ranch in tucson, arizona, but purchased the cleveland indians in 1946. intending to introduce african-american players, veeck decided to buck tradition and train the indians in tucson and convinced the new york giants to give phoenix a try. thus the cactus league was born. in 1947, veeck signed larry doby to the indians. doby was the second african-american to play mlb in the 20th century, and the first in the american league.