The Line Leaping Legend: Jackie Robinson

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.

The Man who Changed it All “In October, of 1945, Branch Ricky, then president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, singed Robinson to play for the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn farm club in the international league. Despite several incidents in spring training in the south and many inconveniences during the season, Robinson,- the first African American ballplayer in that league- excelled as a second baseman and won the league batting crown (Jackie Robinson).” Branch Ricky took a big gamble on Robinson and it paid off big. Jackie Robinson was an amazing athlete who overcame adversity to become the first black to play in the league. Born Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Jackie grew up in California. He stood out as an athlete in high school and college (Jackie Robinson).

But for Jackie it was harder because he had racial slurs thrown at him. Despite all of the discrimination and racism about Jackie Robinson and his family, he got passed it and became a star. Jackie was an outsider, he was the first African American to play Major league baseball, he used the haters to become an amazing ball player and a hero to other African Americans. Before his outstanding baseball career Jackie did many motivational things. For example, Jackie attended the University of California, Los Angeles.

Baseball may have taken a long time to not be made up of mainly white players. Jackie was a beacon of hope to black people in the fact that they could compete and succeed in a white man’s sport. Jackie was born and raised in Cairo, Georgia 1919. He was raised by his single mother Mallie along with is four siblings. He was the first person at UCLA to obtain a varsity letter in baseball, basketball, football, and track.

Even with this failure, Babe led the Yankee's to seven World Series, winning five of them. In Babe's unbelievable career, he had a lifetime average of .342, hit 714 career home runs, had 2,209 career RBI's, and 2,873 total hits, all in only 2,503 total games. As amazing as these stats are, they are not the reason people should be grateful that Babe played the game. The reason most people should know Babe Ruth is for the most important reason, that being the way he saved baseball from extinction. Forget how Babe was the best power-hitter in baseball and considered by many the best player in baseball history, and just think about how he kept the American pastime alive.

The Brooklyn Dodgers retired Jackie Robinson's number in 1972, he wore the number 42. They made a couple movies about him but the most recent and my personal favorite is the movie 42. Jackie Robinson was just an overall great baseball

Jackie Robinson changed the face of Major League Baseball. He was the first colored man to play in the major leagues and opened other sports up to black athletes. He brought the Negro style of play to the game of baseball and broke the colored barrier for the MLB. Jackie became the symbol of hope for Americans and soon hoped to break the segregation all together. In his letter to the President he said, “I hope in the near future America is determined to provide the freedoms we are entitled to under the constitution” (U.S. National).

After fighting in World War II from 1941 until 1944, Jackie played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues from 1944 until 1946. In 1946, he was selected as the best person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. For a long time, it was assumed that blacks were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues simply because they had not for so long. When Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of baseball at the time, declared that there was no rule preventing integration of the Major Leagues, the idea of an African-American joining the league was realized for the first time by a lot of people. In 1943, Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time, had an idea though to be outrageous by many during that period.

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.

Jackie Robison was the first African American to play in the major leagues. He was a big thing for baseball, that he revolutionized the game forever. Jackie was an impact in the 1960s and generations to come. Jackie Robinson had a big influence on all sports. He got rid of racial rules in sports, gave hope to African Americans, but had hard times in the League, and was a good role model to all.