The Importance Of Baseball?

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Ever since the creation of Major League Baseball (MLB), baseball has always been considered part of America’s pastime. A crucial role in American society was also included in baseball, segregation. The color barrier in baseball was broken on April 15, 1947 by the Brooklyn Dodgers when Jackie Robinson stepped on the field for his first at bat. With such a large part of American society now becoming integrated, many Americans were questioning their emotions, some were inspired by such an act of courage and others were filled with hatred towards a minority. “Professional baseball has become the laboratory to test American principles of equality and fairness.” with this being said, baseball was a way for American’s to test the limits and their social tolerance. With the Brooklyn Dodgers, one of the most popular teams in baseball, integrating the roster of baseball, it created hope for people, that one day they were going to be able to witness the end of segregation in the United States. On January 31, 1919, the world greeted a future baseball legend, …show more content…

Rickey was a general manager, president, and eventually a 1/3 owner of the Dodgers in 1942. Many saw him as an eccentric man, he was known for being a Methodist man. Branch had been keeping an eye out for a “perfect” candidate to integrate baseball. In the movie 42, they show the process of Branch Rickey choosing the perfect candidate that would be used to integrate baseball. They saw Jackie Robinson and they his record and that he knew when to not talk, when to defend himself, and that he had previously played on an integrated team, USC football. Branch felt as if those were the necessary qualities, which the person who would break the baseball color line needed. Many have been left wondering why the Brooklyn Dodgers decided to break the color barrier and what was their main motivation for breaking

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