Jackie Robinson’s Entrance into the MLB
Shane Eckert
Junior Division
Individual Paper
Word Count: 1,753
1
For many years, Major League Baseball did not allow blacks to play professionally
because they were considered “different” than the white players. Until Jackie Robinson joined
the MLB. Since then, sports have never been the same because Jackie Robinson broke the color
barrier when he played with the Brooklyn Dodgers, proving that black players were as good as
white players. Jackie Robinson had the necessary qualities to accomplish this challenge.
Robinson not only had a strong character and resisted the urge to fight back against the racism he
encountered but he also had great athletic ability. His road to success was difficult because he
had to encounter an enormous amount of racial comments and threats, he had to exchange his
idea that African Americans were equal to white people, and he had to explore racial views
throughout America as he traveled with the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first black MLB player. He
was able to use his talents as an athlete to change the minds and challenges the ideas of the
American people. Many people, including fans, teammates, and other professional MLB players
hated Jackie Robinson the moment he was signed by the Dodgers on April 15, 1947 because he
had a different skin color. However, he soon showed the nation that skin color does not affect
how a person acts or lives out their life.1
Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919.2 Growing up,
Robinson was good at almost every sport.3 After his brother returned from the Olympics,
Robinson went on to go to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).4 At UCLA, he
won varsity letters in four sports, track and field, football, basketball, and baseball.5 Robinson
could have went on to play any of these sports professionally, but he chose to play baseball. 6
1
Biography.com Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography (n/a, biography.com, n/a) np
Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography np
3
Biography.com Editors, Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio (n/a, biography.com, 2015) np
4
Editors, Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio np
5
Editors, Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio np
6
Editors, Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio np
2
2
After college, Robinson joined the Army, where he received an honorable discharge after he
refused to give up his seat on the bus to a white person.7 This is when baseball career started.
Jackie Robinson began his career with the Montreal Royals, a minor league baseball
team.8 Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, attended a game to see
Robinson play. After Robinson’s performance, Rickey wanted Jackie to play on his team.
However, Rickey needed to make sure that Robinson was the right player for the Dodgers.9
Rickey needed a player that would not fight back against racial comments and threats or any
other hurtful sayings that may possibly be yelled at Robinson during his career.10 He gave
Robinson scenarios to see how he would react if something like that did happen in order to make
sure he had the courage to not fight back.11 Robinson showed great character and responded
correctly to each of Rickey’s scenarios. As a result, Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a contract
with the Brooklyn Dodgers.12 Branch Rickey did not yet to realize the impact that Jackie
Robinson was about to have on the Brooklyn Dodgers, the MLB, and the United States of
America.
Even though Robinson signed his contract, he still received no respect at all. Pitchers
would deliberately throw pitches at him and catchers would spit on his cleats when he was up to
bat.13 Several players even went deliberately out of their way to spike Robinson with their cleats,
which caused many cuts on Robinson.14 These players hated him just because he had a different
7
Editors, Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio np
Louis Effrat, Dodgers Purchase Robinson, First Negro in Modern Major League Baseball, (New York:
Times, 1947) np
9
Warren Goldstein, Jackie Robinson (n/a: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, n/a) np
10
n/a Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball’s Color Barrier (n/a: Eye Witness to History, n/a) np
11
n/a, Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball’s Color Barrier np
12
Louis Effrat, Dodgers Purchase Robinson, First Negro in Modern Major League Baseball np
13
Jim Crow, Jackie Robinson Integrates Major League Baseball (n/a: pbs.org, n/a) np
14
Jim Crow, Jackie Robinson Integrates Major League Baseball np
8
3
skin color. Many of the Dodgers fans hated Robinson from the beginning, but they had not yet
seen the greatness of Jackie Robinson. It wasn’t just the fans and players who hated Robinson.
Many of his teammates, besides Pee Wee Reese, also hated Robinson.15 They also did not realize
yet, like almost everyone else, that Robinson was both a great person and a great player.
Jackie Robinson was underrated as a player because he was an African American. He
received no respect from anyone and no one expected much from him.16 As the years went along,
everyone began to look past his skin color to see the true talent Robinson possessed.17 After that,
they began to expect great performances from him and Robinson did what they expected him to
do. Then, Robinson started to be recognized as a superstar player in the MLB and he became
more popular and more accepted with the fans.
Before everyone saw this true talent however, they hated Robinson for being an African
American fulfilling his dream of playing in the MLB. He received a countless amount of racial
comments and threats throughout his career.18 Robinson said that the one series he would
remember forever was against the Phillies because he heard the most yells and curses that were
directed toward him in his career.19 One of Robinson’s most well-known threats he received was
from a group called the Three Travelers. The Three Travelers were a mysterious group who sent
letters to the police, the Cincinnati Reds, and a local newspaper about Jackie Robinson saying,
“We have already got rid of several like you one was found in a river just recently Robinson we
are going to kill you if you attempt to enter a game at Crosely Field.”20 Luckily they did not, and
Jackie’s legacy lived on.
15
Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography np
Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (n/a: Harper Collins, 2013) 57
17
Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography np
18
Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography np
19
Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made 58, 59
20
Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Alder, Letters of the Century 371, 372
16
4
Throughout his career, Jackie Robinson felt like exploding after some of these threats. He
faced his problems instead of running away from them.21 Sometimes the threats were directed
not only to him, but included threats for his whole family. When he would walk up to bat fans
would yell curse words at him. He was horrified knowing that these people were threatening to
kill him, but his contract stated that he had to keep calm in these types of situations or he would
be released.22
People and their ideas never made anything easier for Robinson. He was forced to stay at
separate hotels away from the rest of the team.23 He had to do this because, in the 1940s,
American laws separated the blacks and whites, including schools, hotels, and restaurants. Even
his teammates did not like him and some said that they would rather be benched than play with
Robinson just because he was a different skin color than the rest of them. They even started a
petition to not sign Robinson to the team.
Overall, Jackie had an amazing career while playing in the MLB. He won the 1947
National League Rookie of the Year award, the 1949 National League MVP award, and led the
league in stolen bases in the years of 1947 and 1949.24 He played in six World Series, but only
won one of them. He ended up playing his entire MLB career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.25
Jackie Robinson was a very special person and had a remarkable life. He broke the color
barrier in 1947, was one of the first African American professional athletes, was inducted into
the MLB Hall of Fame as the first African American to receive this honor, his number, 42, was
retired by every MLB team in his honor, and there is Jackie Robinson Day on April 15, when
21
Larry Schwartz, Jackie Robinson Changed the Face of Sports (n/a: espn.com, n/a) np
Larry Schwartz, Jackie Robinson Changed the Face of Sports np
23
Editors, Jackie Robinson Biography np
24
n/a, Remembering Jackie (n/a: baseballhall.org, n/a) np
25
n/a, Remembering Jackie np
22
5
every player and coach on every MLB team wears the number 42 on the back of their jersey to
show great respect to the legendary figure.26
Jackie Robinson did many of things for which he does not receive much credit. People do
not realize that 150 African American players began to play professionally during the first five
years of Robinson’s career. He opened the gates for many of the great, future Hall of Fame black
players such as Hank Aaron.27 After he retired, he began to work with the Civil Rights
Movement and was a major influence.28
Jackie Robinson never had it easy. Many people may not know this, but Robinson’s MLB
career got off to a rocky start.29 In his first few games he was playing terribly and he knew he
had to quickly improve.30 He was then determined to become something great. His hard worked
paid off when he transformed the Brooklyn Dodgers, a team that was known as “the bums” into a
team that won a World Series. People eventually came to realize, that even though he was black,
they had to accept the significance of Jackie Robinson joining the league.
The way people treated Robinson was not completely their fault because that was the way
that they were raised and it was a common feeling across America. They grew up in a society
with racial issues and they thought it was acceptable. However it was their fault in a way,
because it was their time to change the way that people viewed the blacks, and that’s what Jackie
Robinson helped to do. Jackie opened their eyes to show them that it was not okay to treat other
humans the way that they were being treated. He was not only fighting for the blacks to be able
26
n/a, Remembering Jackie np
n/a, Remembering Jackie np
28
n/a, Remembering Jackie np
29
Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made 117-122
30
Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made 117-122
27
6
to play baseball, but for them so that they could be able to receive the rights that every human
deserves.
Branch Rickey wanted a player that was athletic and had enough courage to not fight
back and Jackie Robinson was that man. Though it was tough, Robinson had a lot of courage and
was able to encounter racial comments and threats, exchange his idea that African Americans
were equal to the whites, and explore racial comments across America as the first black MLB
player. Robinson’s strong courage showed the whites that the blacks were just as good on the
field and in life. Jackie Robinson, though he may not always receive credit for it, was one of
many Americans to change our country for the better. He helped everyone realize that skin color
does not matter and that we need to look past it to see the great qualities that everyone in this
world has.
7
Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Duckett, Alfred. I Never Had It Made. HarperCollins, 2013. 35-86, 117-122. Print
This book is an autobiography. The main idea is to explain Jackie Robinson’s life
through his eyes. This helped me because it showed me how Jackie felt about the
situation.
Effrat, Louis. "Dodgers Purchase Robinson, First Negro in Modern Major League Baseball."
New York Times 15 Apr. 1947: 2, 3. New York Times. Web. 30 Sept. 2015
This source is a copy of a newspaper. The main idea of this article is to tell the people of
the time about Jackie Robinson. This helped me because it told me some background
information on Jackie.
Grunwald, Lisa, and Stephen J. Adler, eds. Letters of the Century. 371, 372. Print.
This source is a letter. The main idea is to tell people about a letter to Jackie sent by The
Travelers to show people what one letter that was sent to Robinson was like. It helped me
understand the hate Jackie received.
"Jackie Robinson." LIFE Magazine 26 Nov. 1945. Print.
This source is a magazine article. The document’s main idea is to explain how Jackie let
African Americans become accepted. This source helped me see how Jackie helped the
African Americans.
"Royals Robinson Spring Training." Apimages.com. AP Images. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
This source is a photograph. The main idea is to show Jackie beginning to interact with
the whites. This helped me see that they were both okay to talk to each other.
8
Secondary Sources
Baseball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Web. 23 Oct. 2015
This source is a statistical website. The main idea is to show the significance of Jackie’s
career using his statistics. This source helped me because it showed me Jackie’s statistics
and accomplishments.
Crow, Jim. "Jackie Robinson Integrates Major League Baseball." Pbs.org. Web. 2 Nov. 2015
This source is a website. The main idea is to talk about the significance of Jackie `
Robinson. This helped me because it summed up Jackie’s life.
Editors, Biography.com. "Jackie Robinson Biography." Biography.com. Biography.com. Web. 2
Nov. 2015.
This source is a website article. The main idea is to talk about Jackie Robinson’s life.
This helped me because it talks about Jackie’s life in a website article.
Editors, Biography.com. "Jackie Robinson-Mini Bio." Biography.com. Biography.com. Web. 2
Nov. 2015
This source is a video. The main idea is to talk about Jackie Robinson’s life. This video
also helps me because it sums up Jackie Robinson’s life.
Goldstein, Warren. "Jackie Robinson." History.com. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Company. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
This source is a website. This main idea is to talk about how much Jackie Robinson
affected the world. This helped me see how Jackie made the world a better, less racist
place.
"Jackie Robinson Biography." www.biography.com. Ed. Biography.com Editors. A&E
Television Network. Web. 30 Sept. 2015
This source is a website article. The main idea is to talk about how Robinson changed the
face of sports. This source helped me see how many great players joined the MLB
9
because of Jackie.
"Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball's Color Barrier, 1945," EyeWitness to History
This source is a website. The main idea is to talk about Jackie Robinson today. This
source helped me summarize Robinson’s baseball career.
Rampersad, Arnold. Jackie Robinson: A Biography. Ballantine, 1997. Print
This source is a book. The main idea is to talk about Jackie’s career. This helped me to
understand what other people thought of Jackie Robinson.
Remembering Jackie." Baseballhall.org. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
This source is a website. The main idea is to talk about the significance of Jackie’s career.
This helped me see how the people of the MLB Hall of Fame think of the great Jackie
Robinson.
Schwartz, Larry. "Jackie Changed the Face of Sports." Espn.go.com. Web. 22 Oct. 2015
This source is a website article. The main idea is to talk about Jackie’s legacy. This
helped me see how ESPN thought about Jackie Robinson.
Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment. Oxford: Oxford UP. Print
This source is a book. The main idea was to talk about Jackie Robinson’s MLB career.
This helped me realize that if things didn’t work with Jackie African Americans may not
be accepted.