Jackie Robinson: Changing the Face of Baseball

As baseball celebrates the legendary Jackie Robinson, it is a perfect time to reflect on the long fight for racial equality in professional baseball.

“He died from the load he carried,” famed baseball announcer Red Barber said of Jackie Robinson.

When Robinson died at the young age of 53, the official causes listed were diabetes and heart failure, but his health and well being undoubtedly suffered from the abuse he took as the first African American baseball player in modern history. In the 1880s, blacks and whites played side by side, but the International League officially banned African Americans in 1887.

Jackie Robinson ended that ban when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers at the start of the season in 1947. At that time, the Supreme Court had yet to ban segregated schools and lynch mobs still hung black men from trees.

When he signed with the Dodgers, Robinson agreed to put a target on his own back and to absorb the physical and mental abuse bound to come. Brooklyn President and General Manager Branch Rickey, who had been searching for the right man since 1943 when the Dodger front office committed to integrating the team, chose Robinson over Negro League stars like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.

Rickey instinctively knew that the man he chose could not be passive in the face of racism but had to temper his anger. According to an article in The Atlantic by Peter Dreier, Robinson asked if Rickey was looking for a “negro who is afraid to fight back?”

“Robinson, I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back,” Rickey replied.

Obviously the chosen one also had to be a talented player, and Robinson excelled at basketball, track and football as well as baseball at UCLA where he met his future wife Rachel Isum, a nursing student. In his first season in MLB, Robinson was named Rookie of the Year for both leagues and two years later the Most Valuable Player in the National League.  He became a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1960. He and other African American players like Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe helped turn the Dodgers into a powerhouse.

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After his retirement in 1957 Robinson used his athletic fame to further the cause of civil rights. Martin Luther King himself said that players like Robinson and Campanella made his fight for justice easier.

In the words of Ken Burns, who produced the documentaries “Jackie Robinson” and Baseball” among others, “I would argue that he is the most important person in the history of American sports and he is one of the greatest Americans who’s ever lived—period.”

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In 2004 MLB announced that every April 15 would be Jackie Robinson Day. Since then, everyone on the field has worn the number 42 to honor the man who changed the face of baseball forever.