Written by In just a few short weeks, on April 15th, Major League Baseball will celebrate the 74th anniversary of Jack Roosevelt Robinson’s debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The man, better known as Jackie Robinson, was the first African American to play baseball in the Major Leagues when he started at first base for the Dodgers. While he only played 10 years in the Majors, Jackie made tremendous strides to integrate the game of baseball, which for years had been a segregated sport with countless black baseball stars being relegated to only playing in the Negro League.
Robinson was known for his character, nonviolence stance, and incredible baseball talent. Even after retiring, he stayed active with his community, with the civil rights movement, and the sport of baseball. While Robinson had an abbreviated baseball career, his breaking of baseball’s color barrier and the racial strife and antagonism he had to deal with during his 10-year career left a long-lasting impact on the sport and the country itself.
One of the biggest things Jackie Robinson had to deal with throughout his life, and especially his baseball career, was racial intolerance. When he was signed by Branch Rickey to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rickey was interested in finding someone who would be able to withstand the epithets, slurs, and overall intolerance that would be sent Robinson’s way without significantly react to it. A famous interaction between the two, when Robinson was told what he could potentially expect playing for the Dodgers has Robinson quoted as saying, “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” To which Branch Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player “with guts enough not to fight back.” (Robinson & Duckett, 2003)
While Robinson’s role in breaking baseball’s color barrier is generally one of the most widely known aspects of his baseball career, the lesser-known fact is the way the Brooklyn Dodgers team rallied behind him and supported him against racial intolerance, as well as baseball as a whole. There were Dodgers players who were initially against playing with a black baseball player, but when the team’s manager, Leo Durocher made a stand essentially telling his players that they either play with Jackie or look to be traded, it had an effect on the overall team. When faced with an opposing team threatening to refuse to play against the Dodgers because of Robinson being on the field, both the president of the National League and the Commissioner of Major League Baseball at the time, came out in staunch support of Robinson playing. The National League President is quoted as saying, “You will find that the friends that you think you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be outcasts. I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do it will encounter quick retribution. All will be suspended and I don’t care if it wrecks the National League for five years. This is the United States of America and one citizen has as much right to play as another.” (Giglio, 2001)
The culture shift that Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers sought to create by signing Jackie Robinson was a catalyst for the sport of baseball and helped the country as a whole move towards more equal rights. While there is still a disparity in baseball regarding the number of black players, coaches, and managers, and we are still dealing with racial inequalities, the stance taken by Robinson and his teammates is one that should be emulated. Intolerance and ignorance should not be met with retribution, but education and acceptance. We can do this by looking more at a person’s abilities than the color of their skin, their gender, orientation, or any other differences. By working to see beyond the visual differences and focus solely on abilities, we can continue to move forward with efforts to bring equality to light. Jackie Robinson’s former Dodger teammate, Pee Wee Reese, is quoted as saying, “You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them.” (Newman, 2007)
References:
Giglio, J. N. (2001). Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man. In J. N. Giglio, Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man (pp. 152-153). Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press.
Newman, M. (2007, April 13). 1947: A time for change. Retrieved from MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070412&content_id=1895445&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Robinson, J., & Duckett, A. (2003). I Never Had It Made. In J. Robinson, & A. Duckett, I Never Had It Made (p. 33). Harper Collins Publishers.