73 years ago today Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was a 28 year old rookie. Robinson had been playing with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League when Branch Rickey, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, offered Robinson a contract. Branch Rickey spent hours taking Robinson through all the situations he might encounter if he did join the big league team, Rickey asked Jackie to wait 3 years to fight back or speak out against the injustice he would face a daily basis. Once Jackie agreed to the terms Rickey offered they signed a contract and Jackie joined the minor league team in Montreal. After spending a year in Montreal Robinson joined the Dodgers in 1947.
Robinson spent 10 years with the Dodgers, retiring just before the Dodgers left Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles. He had a .311 lifetime batting average, was a 6 time all star, 1955 World Series champion, 1949 NL MVP and 1947 NL Rookie of the Year, led the league in steals two times and stole home plate 19 times in his career. Robinson’s stats are good enough to include him with the best players to ever play the game, what he endured to achieve that success is singular.
How many people could achieve the success Robinson achieved while enduring constant insults, death threats, hate mail and revolt from within his own team? It’s hard to imagine anyone agreeing to take on this burden knowing the wave of hatred that would no doubt come his way. Robinson took his anger out on the field, in the process he produced a hall of fame career and was instrumental in moving forward the issue of racial inequality. At this time Baseball was truly the national pastime and Jackie Robison became a national star. Jackie’s play made people realize he was not only equal but he was among the very best to play the game. This is no doubt the first time many people saw a black man as equal, and no doubt opened many eyes to what one man with unlimited determination can accomplish.
Personally I can’t imagine too many people taking on that type of responsibility, not only to survive the experience but to actually thrive in that environment seems unbelievable. Jackie doesn’t have the greatest stats of all time but he’s singular in the sport of baseball and as far as I’m concerned the greatest to ever play.
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