This past April 15 marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of
Jackie Robinson becoming the first African-American to play Major League
baseball. When Robinson put on the
Brooklyn Dodger uniform to play at Ebbet’s Field against the Boston Braves on
April 15, 1947; he broke through the racial barriers that had been established
by Major League team owners since before the turn of the century. To baby
boomers like me who were infants during his Major League career, Jackie
Robinson was an African-American sports pioneer that continued to fight for the
civil rights of his race long after he retired from playing. But what I did not fully understand at the
time was how good Jackie Robinson played baseball.
My love affair with baseball began when I was six years old in
1957, the year after Robinson retired.
So I was not able to collect his baseball card, look at the baseball box
scores in the daily newspaper sport pages during the summer to see how well he
did, or see him play on television. The
Jackie Robinson I saw marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil
rights campaigns of the 1960’s. With his
speckled gray and black hair, Robinson had an authoritarian voice that spoke out for
the concerns of black people with strength and courage that got attention. As a young black baseball fan, I realized
Jackie Robinson was on a higher pedestal than Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie
Banks and the other African-American players I idolized whose careers were in
progress.
But after reading a number of the books published about Robinson written since 1997, the 50 year
anniversary of his erasing of baseball’s “invisible color line”; I have an
awakened revelation of his playing career.
Although Robinson was not the best player in the Negro Leagues when the
Dodgers signed him from the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, he had an outstanding
Major League career.
He was named National League Rookie of the Year in
1947. Robinson was voted National
League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1949 and was in the top ten receiving
votes for the award three other seasons. With
a career batting average of .311, Robinson hit over .300 six times and under
.295 only twice. He scored over 100 runs
six seasons, and had over 150 hits in seven.
Selected for six All Star Games, Robinson batted .333 in the mid-summer
classics. He also led the National
League in stolen bases twice.
From 1947 -1956, the Dodgers won six National League pennants
and one World Championship. While Pee Wee
Reese was the field captain of those winning Dodger teams, Jackie Robinson was
the emotional leader; the teams’ heart and soul. A fierce competitor, his aggressive playing
style sometimes antagonized opponents; but it brought an excitement to the game
fans had not seen.
What has to be remembered is the pressure he was under. All that Robinson accomplished his first
years was done with the weight of his race on his shoulders. At the very least, he had to be better than
mediocre white players to make it. If he
had failed, who knows how long it would have been before the door opened again
for black ballplayers. But Jackie
Robinson did not fail. Because of his
late start, he was 28 years old his first Major League season, Robinson played
only 10 years. But his performance on
the diamond during his relatively short career changed baseball forever.
What are your memories of Jackie Robinson?
