The resistance to signing black players by the Red Sox, who were the last major league team to integrate, has led to assertions of Yawkey being racist. The Red Sox had multiple black players in their farm system during the 1950s, with the team failing to promote them despite the successes other teams realized after integrating black players. During this period, the Red Sox went from perennial contender to failing to finish within ten games of first place for 16 years (1951–1966). As owner of the Boston Red Sox, the team's policy on integration ultimately was Yawkey's responsibility. In 1959, the Red Sox became the last major league team to field a black player, Pumpsie Green, twelve years after Jackie Robinson's rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers and two-and-a-half years after Robinson's retirement. Robinson would later call Yawkey "one of the most bigoted guys in baseball".