The Importance Of 42 Analysis

The Importance of 42

In 1946, Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey signed an african american man named Jackie Robinson to Major League Baseball, This Bold move by Rickey started huge drama between fans, players and press because of Jackie being the first negro in the MLB. The movie shows Jackie's journey through intense racism and his courage and strength to keep his cool and prove he is a good man and a good ball player.

The quote i chose to write a reflection on is “ I want a player who's got the guts not to fight back. People aren't gonna like this. They're gonna do anything to get you to react. Echo a curse with a curse and, uh, they'll hear only yours. Follow a blow with a blow and they'll say, "The Negro lost his temper."

Branch wanted this because even if jackie did retaliate a little the press would blow it out of proportion and say things like “the negro lost his temper” “the negro does not belong” and jackie could potentially ruin it for the rest of the black men awaiting their signing into the MLB. An example of the press blowing things out of proportion is in the movie when jackie was getting healed after a player had stepped on the back of his leg and cut him, the press asked jackie if he thought the player did it on purpose? Jackie responded saying “he knew he was out but he just kept coming, what he did was intentional” the press than told jackie that the player said otherwise and then asked jackie if he was calling him a liar, even though jackie didn't even come close to saying that. The press were just looking for something to make jackie look bad. The movie showed a very significant moment where jackie had to give it his all not to fight back. Ben chapman at the time was manager of the Philadelphia phillies, and in one game in particular every time jackie would come out to bat he would step out of the dug out and yell at him chirping him using the word “nigger” excessively towards Robinson. He eventually had enough and broke down in the dodgers dugout. This impressed Mr. Rickey and

He started with just playing his game and scoring lots of points for his team. This lead him to gain fans and eventually started signing autographs for little white boys, little white boys were running around wanting to be just like jackie when they were older, in other words, white boys wanted to be just like a black man when they were older. This was a huge milestone for the black race, for baseball and for the world. A scene from the movie that shows jackie overcoming his own racial fears is the scene where jackie didn't wanna shower with the team because he didn't wanna “make anyone uncomfortable”. Jackie eventually showered with his all white team.

Jackie Robinson is not just looked at as one of the greatest players to hold a bat, he is a racial icon to this earth. Without him and without Branch Rickey who knows where this world would be right now, who knows if we would still have the MLB and the negro leagues. No One knows, but all we do know is that we don't have all that now because of him, he changed the world. He went on to lead his team to the world series in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953,1955, 1956 and on july 23rd 1952 he was elected into the baseball hall of