2016 marked the 69th anniversary of Jackie Robinson and his historic debut into the Major League. The baseball color line was broken when Robinson played with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Before this time no blacks were allowed to play in the Major Leagues and were actually relegated to the Negro leagues.
As Jackie Robinson went out to play his first game there were 26,623 players out of which 14,000 were black patrons. Many people were shocked because segregation in baseball had been going on for about six decades.
Baseball was forever changed on the day that Jackie Robinson debuted and this is why he is known long after his death on October 24,1972 at the young age of 53.
Robinson was an aggressive man who was outraged at injustice and was quick to stand up for his rights.
Before he made the big change in baseball he had taken a stand in the army that had lead him to be court-martialed. What was his offense? He refused to go to the back of the bus. You may have heard him say “A life is not important except in the impact it has on others lives.”
Jackie Robinson was 6-foot, 195 pounds and was the Rookie of the Year and two years later he was MVP. .311 was his lifetime averaged and he was voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
After Robinson did a decade with Brooklyn he was traded to the NY Giants in December of 1956 but only a month later Robinson announced his retirement in Look magazine.
Baseball dedicated the season to Robinson in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of his debut. This grandson of a slave and son of a sharecropper made it a long way from his roots and impacted many lives.
People that know Jackie Robinson could only have good things to say about him. Many mentioned his heart and his determined spirit and drive to get things done. It was said of him that he was not one to turn the other cheek but he was one to face things head on.
The Major League as we know it is here in part because of this man and we honor him for this.