Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972), became the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era in 1947. Robinson's achievement has been recognized by his uniform number, 42, being retired by all Major League Baseball Teams; the number will never again be given to a player, although players who wore the number at the time of its retirement may continue to do so.

He was the subject of a 1950 film biography, The Jackie Robinson Story, in which he played himself.

Before the Major Leagues

Template:MLB HoF Born in Cairo, Georgia, he moved with his mother, Mallie Robinson, and siblings Willie Mae, Mack, Frank and Edgar to Pasadena, California in 1920, after his father deserted the family. At the University of California, Los Angeles, he was a star player of football, basketball, track and baseball; the first athlete in UCLA history to letter in four different sports. Robinson's honors at UCLA were impressive: for two years, he was the highest scorer in basketball competition in the Pacific Coast Conference, national champion long jumper, All-American football halfback and varsity baseball shortstop. He left college in 1941 because of financial problems, not many credits from a bachelor's degree.

Robinson also met his future wife, Rachel, at UCLA. His brother Matthew "Mack" Robinson (1912-2000) competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics, finishing second in the 200-meter sprint behind Jesse Owens. In 1941, Jackie played professional football for a team in Honolulu, Hawaii.

After leaving UCLA his senior year, Robinson enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II. He enlisted with a segregated Battalion, the U.S. 761st Tank Battalion. While initially refused admission to Officer Candidate School, he fought for it and eventually was accepted, graduating as a first lieutenant. While training in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas, Robinson refused to go to the back of a public bus. He was court-martialed for insubordination and, therefore, never made it to Europe with his unit. He later received an honorable discharge in 1944, after being pardoned of all charges at the court-martial.

Jackie played baseball in 1944 for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League, where he was noticed by Clyde Sukeforth, a scout working for Branch Rickey.

The Dodgers

Branch Rickey was the club president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and had the secret goal of signing the Negro Leagues' top players to the team. Although there was no official ban on blacks in organized baseball, previous attempts at signing black baseball players had been thwarted by league officials and rival clubs in the past, and so Rickey operated undercover. His scouts were told that they were seeking players for a new all-black league Rickey was forming; not even the scouts knew his true objective.

Robinson drew national attention when Rickey selected him from a list of promising candidates and signed him. In 1946, Robinson was assigned to play for the Dodgers' minor league affiliate in Montreal, the Montreal Royals. Although that season was very tiring emotionally for Robinson, it was also a spectacular success in a city that treated him with all the wild fan support that made the Canadian city a welcome refuge from the hateful harassment he experienced elsewhere.

Robinson was a slightly curious candidate to be the first black Major Leaguer in fifty-seven years (see Moses Fleetwood Walker). Not only was he 27 (relatively old for a prospect), he also had a fiery temperament. While some felt his more laid-back future teammate Roy Campanella might have been a better candidate to face the expected abuse, Rickey chose Robinson, knowing that Jackie's outspoken nature would, in the long run, be more beneficial for their cause than Campanella's relative docility. However, to ease the transition, Rickey asked Robinson to work hard to restrain his temper and his outspokenness for the first couple years, and to moderate his natural reaction to the abuse, testing him by raining racial insults on him in order to get him to understand the kind of abuse he would suffer. Aware of what was at stake, Robinson agreed.

Robinson's debut at first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, in which he batted 0 for 3, was one of the most eagerly awaited events in baseball history, and one of the most profound in the history of the U.S. civil rights movement. Although he played his entire rookie year at first base, Robinson spent most of his career as a second baseman. He also played many games at third base and in the outfield.

During that first season, the abuse to which Robinson was subjected made him come close to losing his patience more than once. He eventually punched an umpire in the face after the ump told him "go back to the jungle you little nigger!". Many Dodgers were highly resistant and hostile to his presence. A group of Dodger players, mostly Southerners led by Dixie Walker, insinuated they would rather strike than play alongside a black man such as Robinson, but the mutiny was ended when Dodger management informed the players they were welcome to find employment elsewhere. He did have the support of Kentucky-born shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who proved to be his closest comrade on the team. One game, Cincinnati players were screaming at Jackie, and then they started to get on Pee Wee. They were yelling things at him like "How can you play with this nigger?", with Jackie standing by first base. Pee Wee went over to him and put his arm around him and smiled, to the astonishment of fans. Jackie smiled back. The pair became a very effective defensive combination as a result. Pittsburgh Pirate Hank Greenberg, the first major Jewish baseball star who experienced anti-semitic abuse, also gave Robinson encouragement.

Throughout the season, Robinson experienced considerable harassment from both players and fans. Pitchers threw at his head. Baserunners tried to cut him with their cleats. He was verbally assaulted by both his own teammates and opposing teams. The Philadelphia Phillies—encouraged by manager Ben Chapman—were particularly abusive. In their April 22 game against the Dodgers, they jeered at and insulted him ceaselessly, calling him a "nigger" from the bench, telling him to "go back to the jungle." Rickey would later recall that "Chapman did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he poured out that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men." Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler admonished the Phillies and asked Robinson to pose for photographs with Chapman as a conciliatory gesture. Robinson didn't refuse, but the ensuing session was likely difficult for both participants. In Robinson's rookie season, he earned the major-league minimum salary of $5000. He played in 151 games, hit .297, and was the league leader in stolen bases with 29.

Robinson was awarded the Rookie of the Year award in 1947, and the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1949. He not only contributed to Brooklyn pennants in both years, but his determination and hustle kept the Dodgers in pennant races in 1950 and 1951 when they might otherwise have been eliminated much sooner. In 1955, though clearly on the downside of his career, Robinson would play a prominent role in leading the Dodgers to their first and only World Series championship in Brooklyn, in a seven game victory over the New York Yankees.

Robinson's Major League career was fairly short. He did not enter the majors until he was 28, and was often injured as he aged. But in his prime, he was respected- at least as a player- by every opposing team in the league.

After the 1956 season, Robinson was sold by the Dodgers to the New York Giants (soon to become the San Francisco Giants.) Rather than report to the Giants, however, Robinson chose to retire at age 37. This sale further added to Robinson's growing disillusionment with the Dodgers, and in particular Walter O'Malley (who had forced Rickey out as General Manager) and manager Walter Alston.

Robinson was an exceptionally talented and disciplined hitter, with a career average of .311 and substantially more walks than strikeouts. He played several defensive positions extremely well and was the most aggressive and successful baserunner of his era; no other player since World War II has more steals of home (19) than Robinson. By his talent and physical presence, he disrupted the concentration of pitchers, catchers and middle infielders. Robinson's overall talent was such that he is often cited as among the best players of his era. It is also frequently claimed that Robinson was one of the most intelligent baseball players ever, a claim that is well supported by his home plate discipline and defensive prowess. Robinson was regarded as a fierce competitor in the truest sense: he never gave up on a game if his team was losing, to the point that he would try everything to avoid being the last man out for his side. In one of his most famous quotes, he said "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... all I ask is that you respect me as a human being."

NL Pennants	1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956
World Series Teams	1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956
All-Star Teams	1949 (2B),1950 (2B),1951 (2B),1952 (2B),1953 (3B),1954 (OF)
Awards	Rookie of the Year (1947)
	National League MVP (1949)
	National League batting leader (.342 - 1949)
	Baseball Hall of Fame (1962)

Post-Dodgers

File:JRandDavid dc march photo.jpg

Jackie Robinson and his son David being interviewed at the "March on Washington"
August 28, 1963
From the National Archives

Robinson retired from the game on January 5, 1957. He had wanted to manage or coach in the major leagues, but received no offers. He became a vice-president for the Chock Full O' Nuts corporation instead, and served on the board of the NAACP until 1967, when he resigned because of the lack of younger influence on the board. In 1960, he involved himself in the presidential election, campaigning first for Hubert Humphrey, and then meeting both Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy: citing his record on Civil Rights, Robinson supported Nixon. After Nixon was elected in 1968, Robinson wrote that he regretted the endorsement. He campaigned diligently for Humphrey in 1968.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility, becoming the first African-American so honored. On June 4, 1972 the Dodgers retired his uniform number 42 alongside Roy Campanella (39) and Sandy Koufax (32).

Robinson made his final public appearance on October 14, 1972, before Game 2 of the World Series in Cincinnati. He used this chance to express his wish for a black manager to be hired by a Major League Baseball team.

This wish was granted two years later, following the 1974 season, when the Cleveland Indians gave their managerial post to Frank Robinson, a Hall of Fame bound slugger who was then still an active player, and no relation to Jackie Robinson. At the press conference announcing his hiring, Frank expressed his wish that Jackie had lived to see the moment. In 1981, four years after being fired as Indians manager, Frank Robinson was hired as the first black manager of a National League team, the San Francisco Giants. As of the conclusion of the 2005 season, five teams had black or Hispanic managers, including Frank Robinson, now with the Washington Nationals, and 13 of the 30 teams had hired one at some point in their history.

Robinson's final few years were marked by tragedy. In 1971, his eldest son, Jackie, Jr., who had beaten back drug problems and was working as a Daytop Village counselor, was killed in an automobile accident. Also, the diabetes that plagued him in middle age had left him virtually blind and contributed to his severe heart troubles.

Jackie Robinson was pronounced dead in Stamford, Connecticut on October 24, 1972 and was interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York; the highway that goes through the cemetery (Interborough Parkway) has been renamed the Jackie Robinson Parkway. For details, see Jules Tygiel's book, Baseball's Great Experiment.

Jackie's Stamp (USPS)

In 1997 (the 50th anniversary of his major league debut), his number (42) was retired from all MLB teams. In 2004, Major League Baseball designated that April 15 each year would be marked as "Jackie Robinson Day" in all their ballparks.

In 2000, he ranked number 44 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Robinson is prominent in many of these stories.

File:JR MO BR.jpg

Bronze replica of Jackie's Congressional Gold Medal

On October 29, 2003, the United States Congress posthumously awarded Robinson the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award the Congress can bestow. Robinson's widow accepted the award in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on March 2, 2005.

External links

Preceded by None, first holder of the award	Major League Rookie of the Year 1947	Succeeded by Alvin Dark
Preceded by Stan Musial	National League Most Valuable Player 1949	Succeeded by Jim Konstanty

Before the Major Leagues

The Dodgers

Post-Dodgers

See also

External links