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On this Day: Jackie Robinson Joined Brooklyn Dodgers

April 10, 2008 12:15 AM
by findingDulcinea Staff
On April 10, 1947, Dodgers manager Branch Rickey announced he had recruited Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals, breaking baseball’s color barrier.
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30-Second Summary

Ending over 50 years of segregation in baseball, Robinson became the first black player in the modern Major Leagues.

Rickey asked Robinson to join what the Dodgers manager called his “Great Experiment” to integrate baseball, due to the player’s combination of athletic talent and personal courage.

It would not be the first time Robinson challenged racism.

As a U.S. Army lieutenant, he risked court martial by refusing to sit in the segregated back seats on a military bus.

Robinson struggled through harassment from fans and players alike, but he managed to retain his equanimity and focus on his playing. At the end of his first season, he received baseball’s Rookie of the Year award, and two year later, was named National League MVP.

In a 2000 profile of Robinson, legendary player Hank Aaron recalled his parents discouraging him as a child from any dreams of becoming a ballplayer, telling him there were “no black players.” 

All that changed when Jackie put on Number 42 and started stealing bases in a Brooklyn uniform,” Aaron wrote. “With Jackie in the infield, the Dodgers won six National League pennants.”

Robinson cleared the way for other black players in the majors, including Larry Doby, Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella, although baseball today has seen declining numbers of African American players.

A forceful and charismatic advocate for equality, Robinson helped galvanize the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

In 2000, Time named Robinson one of the its “100 Most Important People” of the 20th century.

Headline Link: ‘Of Skill and Courage’

Opinion & Analysis: Robinson’s legacy in sports and civil rights

Background: The history of the color barrier in baseball

Related Topic: Declining numbers of black players and racial issues in baseball today

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