I | INTRODUCTION |
Jackie
Robinson (1919-1972), American athlete who became a civil rights icon
when he broke the color barrier in major league baseball in 1947. Fifty years
later, in recognition of his great impact on the sport and on American society,
baseball officially retired Robinson’s number (42) throughout the league.
II | EARLY LIFE |
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo,
Georgia, to a family of sharecroppers. After his father left the family,
Robinson’s mother moved with her five children to Pasadena, California.
Robinson, a high school sports star, attended Pasadena Junior College (now
Pasadena City College) and then won a scholarship to the University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA). There he demonstrated exceptional athletic
ability, becoming the first UCLA student athlete to win varsity letters in four
sports—football, basketball, baseball, and track.
In 1941 Robinson left college and shortly
thereafter enlisted in the United States Army. He graduated from Officer
Candidate School and became a second lieutenant in what was then a segregated
army. Troubled by the mistreatment of black soldiers in his unit, Robinson
protested the U.S. Army’s discriminatory practices. Military police at Fort
Hood, Texas, arrested Robinson when he refused the driver’s order to move to the
back of a bus. A court-martial hearing acquitted Robinson and he received an
honorable discharge in 1944, leaving with the rank of first lieutenant.
III | BASEBALL CAREER |
Although Robinson may have had even greater
potential in other sports, the best place for black athletes to earn a living in
the 1940s was baseball. Robinson began his professional career in 1945 with the
Kansas City Monarchs, one of the leading teams of the Negro Leagues. A standout
player, he was then recruited and signed by Branch Rickey, the general manager
of the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers). Rickey was a baseball
innovator who had decided to challenge the league’s whites-only color barrier.
He assigned Robinson to the minor league Montréal Royals for the 1946
season.
Robinson was a star in Montréal and after
one season he was called up to the big leagues. When he made his Brooklyn debut
on April 15, 1947, Robinson became the first black player to compete in the
major leagues in the 20th century. (Several black players played on professional
teams in the 19th century before club owners agreed to an informal ban on
signing such players.)
Breaking baseball’s color barrier was a
serious challenge, and Robinson met fierce resistance from many players and
fans. Warned by Rickey not to acknowledge insults or retaliate in any way,
Robinson endured malicious taunts and racial slurs shouted from the stands and
opposing dugouts. Some teams even talked about boycotting their games with the
Dodgers, although none did.
Some rival players went beyond verbal abuse
in an effort to intimidate Robinson. They threw pitches at his head, spat on him
when he slid into a base, and attempted to injure him with the spikes on their
shoes. Robinson also received anonymous death threats that warned him not to
play or he would face bodily harm.
With the support of Rickey and the
encouragement of his teammates, the determined Robinson weathered these attacks.
Through all the adversity he hit .297 and led the National League (NL) with 29
stolen bases. The Dodgers won the 1947 NL pennant and Robinson was named the
rookie of the year in the major leagues. The award was later renamed in his
honor.
Robinson became known for his graceful
fielding, timely hitting, and aggressive base running. Over his ten major league
seasons he executed one of baseball’s rarest and most exciting plays—stealing
home—19 times. In 1949 Robinson was voted the NL’s most valuable player (MVP)
after he produced a .342 batting average with 37 steals and 124 runs batted in.
His skill and dramatic flair increased Brooklyn’s attendance and helped make the
club one of the best teams in baseball. The Dodgers played in six World Series
during Robinson’s ten seasons and in 1955 finally won their first championship
title.
Robinson’s success with the Dodgers opened
the way for other black players to sign major league contracts. Not until 1959,
however, did all 16 major league clubs have at least one black ballplayer on
their roster. At the same time, Robinson had a similar influence on other
professional sports and on racial attitudes in workplaces and communities across
the country.
IV | RETIREMENT |
Robinson retired from baseball after the 1956
season rather than accept a trade to another team. He finished with a career
batting average of .311, despite missing a number of prime years because of his
military service and baseball’s racial policies. Robinson was inducted into the
National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, the first black player to receive the
honor. Robinson wanted to become the first black man to manage a major league
team, but no club was willing to hire him. The experience left him bitter for
much of the rest of his life.
After leaving baseball, Robinson became vice
president of a restaurant chain in New York City. He also promoted black
business enterprises in New York’s Harlem neighborhood and became a leading
advocate for black civil rights. From 1964 to 1968 Robinson served as special
assistant for civil rights to Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York.
Robinson starred in the motion picture The
Jackie Robinson Story (1950) and was the author, with Alfred Duckett,
of I Never Had It Made (1972). He died October 24, 1972, in Stamford,
Connecticut. The epitaph that appears on Robinson’s gravestone is one that he
wrote himself. It reads: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on
other lives.”
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