Jackie Robinson

Jackie was discharged from the Army in 1944, he began to play baseball again. On April 15,1947 Jackie's life was going to change for forever because he was going to play in his first major league baseball game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson and his family received many threats because of this. Besides everything happening in Jackie's life he was playing great, he was leading the International League with a .349 batting average. Many players on other teams threatened not to play against the Dodgers and even his own teammates threatened to sit out.

He was the first person at UCLA to obtain a varsity letter in baseball, basketball, football, and track. He married Rachel Isum who he met at UCLA. He however had to leave school due to financial reasons and decided to enlist in the military, but was honorably discharged due to being court-martialed due to his actions against racial discrimination. Jackie played one season in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs leading to further achievements in his professional baseball career. In 1947 Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers desperately wanted Robinson to play for him and his team.

In 1947 he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. But before Jackie Robinson there was Moses Fleetwood Walker, he was the 1st African American major league baseball player to play baseball in the late 1800’s. On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson became the 1st African American to play major league baseball. He broke the color line, which led to many white teams playing against all black teams or interracial teams: Jackie Robinson caught many Americans attention and his story was widely retold through American culture in many different forms. Such as through movies, radio talk shows, sheet music, comic books, and sports magazines.

After his season with the Monarchs, Branch Rickey approached him about coming up and playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Major League had not had an African American since 1889, when baseball became segregated. Jackie accepted this offer. Jackie was the first to break the color barrier in the Major League. Jackie started his first game on April 15th, and that was only the start of Jackie’s legend of a career (Jackie Robinson , 2011).

Matthias pushed Ruth to be a right-handed catcher since there was no left-handed catcher’s mitt. George Herman’s professional career started in 1914 when the Boston Red Sox picked him up as a left-handed pitcher. After 158 games, Ruth had a pitching record of 89-46 and had 3 World Series wins and no losses. When Ruth’s pitching career ended, he had a 2.28 earned run average and was just getting started with his all time hitting career. Babe Ruth set many hitting records in his 22 years of baseball.

Jackie Robinson had far-fetched stats throughout his athletic career. He was the first ever African-American to play baseball in the Major League Baseball. Robinson was an athlete... ... middle of paper ... ... of baseball and in the Civil Rights movement. He went out of his way to join the military, he had an amazing baseball career with incredible statistics, and he ignored the critics and racial slurs and showed everyone what he was capable of doing in his athletics and his academics. Robinson had a abnormal childhood with poverty and only a single mother.

In the seventh inning, Joe hit a triple and was running to third base when a fan jumped up and yelled, “You shoeless son of a gun.” He only played that one game in his stockings, but the nickname stuck with him forever. He openly admitted to not liking the nickname. In the eyes of thousands, the 1919 World Series was nothing more than eight fixed games. Nearly 100,000 dollars was paid to players, and half a million was gambled on it. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, and the Sox allegedly accepted money from Joseph "Sport" Sullivan to lose to the Cincinnati Reds.

That amazing first year of playing baseball he had the opportunity to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He being the amazing ball player he is, hit 12 home runs and it led them to win the world series. He went to the world series 6 times, which is very impressive. Later on that year he was voted Rookie of the year and he stood out to many people and many people started looking up to him. In 1956 Jackie was traded to the New York Giants and they never let him play so Jackie decided to retire.

He was number 42. Now a day baseball players are not allowed to wear the number 42 out of respect for Jackie Robinson. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. His mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised Jackie and her four other children. They were the only black family on their block, and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond.

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.