Branch Rickey started his baseball career as just a mediocre player at best. (Baseball Hall of Fame) He may not have been the best of players, but he definitely made a huge impact on baseball. Branch Rickey was one of the most important and influential people in forming and shaping the way baseball is today. Branch Rickey created the minor league farm club system, which today gives young players the opportunity to develop and enhance the skills they need to be great. Branch Rickey’s most important contribution to baseball was when he signed Jackie Robinson.
In 1947 Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers desperately wanted Robinson to play for him and his team. He would become the first black MLB player since 1889 when baseball became discriminated. In his first year he was the Rookie of the Year. He debuted in the International League with the Montreal Royals. This the led to Branch’s interest in Robinson since he was considered one of the best players in the International League and considering it was his first time playing with white men.
He has helped the board of the NAACP until 1967 and Jackie Robinson was the first African American to be introduced into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jackie Robinson retired his uniform number 42 so no other player can ever wear the number 42. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to join the MLB. He Played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. To this day, every player in the MLB, on every team each player wears the number 42 to represent Jackie Robinson. Jackie gave people hope and inspiration to follow your dreams no matter what your obstacles are in your way.
During the 1940’s African Americans and whites were segregated by law in the United States, but sports had seemed to be the one area that had mixed views. Some people had thought it should strictly be for whites to play professionally, but others had thought professional sports should be integrated (Lipsyte, 40). Branch Rickey, general manager and president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was one those people who thought that sports should be integrated. On April 10th of 1947, Rickey had made a bold move and signed 4-star athlete African American baseball player Jack Roosevelt Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers (biography.com). On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson made history by playing his first game of his 10 year hall of fame career.
he selected Robinson as the best Negro teams player for a test. When he first joined the team, there was much opposition to Robinson playing based completely on the fact that he was black , but within a few years blacks were accepted as regular players on most baseball teams after over fifty years of being a segregated sport. Robinson was an outstanding player and in 1949 he led the National League in batting, with an average of .342. Jackie Robinson had a very important and unique role in Major League Baseball because of his astonishing accomplishments of breaking the color barrier and striving to stop discriminatory . Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in an almost all white neighborhood.
Just as most sports before World War II, baseball was racially segregated. Some African Americans participated in dominantly white leagues but for the most part baseball remained segregated especially between 1900 and 1947. The desegregation of baseball was very important to American culture. The Major Leagues was desegregated before America's public education system. The success of players in the Negro Leagues and the circumstances of World War II helped lead the way towards the signing of Jackie Robinson.
The first was that he met Rachel Isum, who would later bec... ... middle of paper ... ...art of stealing home. Jackie Robinson was a major cultural hero. It was a very courageous act to go and be the first African American player in Major League Baseball, breaking the color barrier. This paved the way for many more African Americans in baseball and other sports everywhere. This also affected our society today because now baseball along with all other professional sports are multi-racial and allow everyone to play in the league.
Jackie Robinson was an extraordinary worker to the Civil Rights Movement, despite having a tough upbringing. Having such a tough childhood, he decided to join the military. He joined the military to enter World War II, but he was later discharged. He was an incredible athlete through his school years and he played professional baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson made a huge difference in the Civil Rights Movement and to the world of baseball.
Nevertheless, Jackie Robinson was a unique individual, a legend in baseball, and an inspiration for civil rights. Jackie Robinson was very unique; he had much more potential, talent, and knowledge than anyone could have expected. Incidentally, born in Georgia with four other siblings, Robinson was raised by his single mother in poverty and began schooling at John Muir High School, continuing his education at Pasadena Junior College. However, recognized solemnly for baseball, Robinson excelled in many sports. To resume, in 1938, while attending Pasadena Junior college he was named the region’s Most Valuable Player in baseball (The Jackie Robinson Foundation).
The Negro Leagues: More Than a Stepping Stone Jackie Robinson was the first African American ever to set foot on a Major League Baseball Field, and he wouldn’t be the last. It was opening day, April 15 1947, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Jackie stepped onto the diamond, starting at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Only later that year players like Larry Doby, for the Boston Braves, and Hank Thompson, also for the dodgers, made their way into the big leagues. This flood of African American players into the MLB continued over the next decade, but at the same time this lead to the erosion of one of this country’s under appreciated treasures, the Negro Leagues. Jackie caused racism in baseball to bend, but it would take many years for it to break.