This website was created in loving memory of the great color barrier breaker Jackie Robinson.
I have created this website in loving memory of a great baseball player, revolutionist, and person. Jackie Robinson is a great African American person who changed the beliefs of many people. People judged him not by his color but by his abilities. After those particular people discovered his abilities they found out what he was like on the inside a caring, loving, and considerate person.
My goal is to have everyone on this earth discover what a great individual this person was. Jackie Robinson inspired an uncountable number of people including me. Jackie will forever be in the hearts of the many people that he had touched with his courage, wisdom, and bravery.
Jackie Robinson is a revolutionary color barrier breaker. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie was the first non-white person to play professional baseball. Branch Rickey had chosen Jackie Robinson as his instrument to integrate baseball with. By breaking the color barrier Jackie Robinson forever changed American society by integrating the game of baseball. (Denenberg)
Jackie's adolecenthood had a big affect on Branch Rickey's decision to choose him as the person to integrate baseball with. Jackie Robinson is the fifth of five children in his family. He was always used to playing sports with older, stronger, and faster kids than he was. When he attended Grover Cleveland School, he was always picked first for any and every sport. After Grover Cleveland School Jackie went to George Washington High School where he played: tennis, golf, Ping-Pong, softball, basketball, football, and track. He excelled in all of these sports. After attending high school, Jackie went to Muir Technical School. That was where he decided to have a career in sports. Then Jackie Robinson attended UCLA. At UCLA Jackie played on the football, basketball, track, and baseball teams. Barry Denenberg explained," He became the first four letter athlete in UCLA history to earn major letters in four different sports in one year: baseball, football, basketball, and track." (Denenberg)
Branch Rickey was almost as important as Jackie Robinson in the evolution of baseball. After W.W.II Branch Rickey started looking for more baseball players with talent. Several baseball players had to go and fight in the war. As one can expect some of them died or got injured. Rickey started looking for good baseball players in high schools and colleges. Rickey was open to the idea of integrating baseball with a non-white player. Rickey discovered Jackie when one of his scouts was at a Negro League baseball game. Jackie could run well, throw good, hit with power, and he also had a good personality, a good background, he was intelligent, and he had a desire to succeed. This was very important because that was what Branch Rickey was looking for in a good player. (Denenberg)
Mr. Rickey wanted to meet Jackie Robinson so they arranged a conference. The first question Mr. Rickey asked Jackie was, "Do you drink?" (Young)
Of course Jackie said, "No." (Young)
After that, Branch Rickey started explaining to Jackie Robinson why he needed more baseball players. Mr. Rickey described how the war had taken away some of the Dodgers' playing talent and how he had been searching for playing talent in the high schools, colleges, and in the Negro League. Mr. Rickey needed a strong player. Jackie asked, "Mr. Rickey do you want a ballplayer who's afraid to fight back?" (Young)
Mr. Rickey responded by exclaiming, "I want a ballplayer with enough guts not to fight back! You've got to do this job with base hits stolen bases and fielding round balls, Jackie. Nothing else!" (Young)
Jackie understood that. Branch Rickey stated, "We're tackling something big here, Jackie. If we fail, no one will try it again for twenty years...We're dealing with the right of any American to play baseball--the American game. (Young)
After the three-hour conference the only foundation for Jackie's move to professional baseball was that he couldn't fight back.
Jackie expressed:
I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that I am the first of my race to play organized baseball. I realize how much it means to me, to my race, and to baseball. I can only say that I'll do my very best to come through in every manner. (Young)
He did that after Hector Racine, president of the Royals, announced that the Dodgers had signed Jackie Robinson to the Montreal Royals.
Jackie played with the Royals for one season. Jackie was promised a $3,500 bonus, a $600-a-month salary, and a real contract before December 1, 1946 to play for the Royals. On April 10, 1947 during a game between Montreal and Brooklyn the big announcement was made it read, "The Brooklyn Dodgers today purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from Montreal." (Young) The rest is history.
Jackie was a marvelous baseball player. In six different World Series Jackie played four different positions. In 1947 he was a first baseman. In 1949 and 1952 he played at second base. Jackie played in left field in 1953. In 1955 and 1956 he played at third base. Jackie was able to hit one hundred thirty-seven home runs in his career (even though that wasn't what Branch Rickey wanted him to do). Jackie hit two hundred seventy-three doubles and fifty-four triples in his career also. Other players might have made his triples only doubles and his doubles only singles. That is why Tom Meany and Tommy Holmes consider Jackie a, "…fiery performer…" (Meany)
Jackie was an excellent ballplayer. Tom Meany and Tommy Holmes explained:
He was the most exciting base-stealer of his time. He finished with one hundred ninety-seven thefts, but his average of better than nineteen a season reflects only a part of his nuisance value in this respect. A constant threat to steal at all times, Robinson upset the poise of opposing pitchers and disturbed the defensive concentration of opposing infields with his long leads and sudden feints in the direction of the next base. (Meany)
Jackie set a new fielding record for a second baseman of .992. Jackie Robinson also led the league in stolen bases twice in 1947 and 1949. (Young)
Jackie's best years were 1947 and 1949. Those were the years that Jackie was the National League's Rookie-of-the-Year and he was batting champion and most valuable player of the year (rookie - 1947 and MVP -1949). (Meany)
Jackie Robinson was going to be traded. He was going to be traded to the New York Giants for Dick Littlefield and a reported $35,000 (ten times his bonus that he got to play for the Montreal Royals) on December 13, 1956. However, Jackie announced his retirement on January 5, 1957, and that cancelled the deal.
Thanks to Jackie Robinson, America as a country has accomplished a lot. Integrating the game of baseball was the most controversial sports development in our century (20th). It was considered the best-planned sports maneuver in history. (Young) Jackie helped pave the way for the integration of other sports. He also started erasing the segregation lines. Jackie also helped encourage people of different nationalities to run for office and senate. Jackie Robinson helped revolutionize the United States of America.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and forever changed American society through the game of baseball. Jackie's performance as a player was considered the greatest all-around of any dodger in history. (Young) Some say that he is the best player while other may disagree. However, Jackie Robinson is a revolutionist. Thanks to Jackie Robinson, there are/were greats such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffy (Sr. & Jr.), Toby Bailey, Tiger Woods, and Dion Sanders. Jackie Robinson will never be forgotten for he had great strength, courage, and has changed the opinions of many.
I would like to thank the following for their contributions to this website:
Barry Denenberg for his book Stealing Home, Tom Meany and Tommy Holmes for their book Baseball's Best, and A S Doc. Young for writing an article in Ebony about Jackie. Thank you.
THANKS JACKIE FOR BREAKING THE COLOR BARRIER
 The Jackie Robinson Image Gallery |
| Teammate Jackie Robinson and the Negro Leagues of Baseball |
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