Baseballs Color Lines: Jackie Robinson's Color Line

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Nick Holm Mrs. Young English 11 April 4, 2014 Baseballs Color Line Pee Wee Reese talking to Jackie Robinson before a game, “Maybe one day we will all wear the number 42 so they won’t be able to tell us apart.” Baseball was always a white mans sport from the time that it was created. People didn’t think that colored people had the right to play just because of the color of their skin. This all changed when the Brooklyn Dodgers took a huge gamble that changed the heart of the nation and created equality for all. Baseball has changed tremendously over the past century; the biggest change came from the Civil Rights movement, which also made the nation more united. Jackie Robinson not only became the first African American baseball player, he also made the movement for the first African American president and equal rights (Bilyeu). Mr. Robinson would later sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 23rd, 1945, thus becoming the first professional negro baseball player (Young). Baseball wasn’t fully ready for a colored player, so Jackie played one year for the Dodgers minor league team Montreal (Young). There he would lead the International League in hitting over all the white athletes (Bilyeu). Just before the start of the 1947 season Robinson had received a phone call on April 10th telling him that he would be on the Dodgers the upcoming season (Bilyeu). On April 15th, 1947 he had made his Major League debut and had started his journey to silence the critics and show everyone that it doesn’t matter the color of your skin, but if you can play you can play (Bilyeu). With everything he had faced in his childhood; therefore, it prepared him for the changes he was going to make in the Major League when he entered it years later, Jackie s... ... middle of paper ... ... where they wanted to be. Magic said in an interview, “I take very seriously, the honor of being a minority owner in an organization where Jackie Robinson played” by this he meant that if it weren’t for Robinson who knows where he would be today and that he greatly appreciates the scrutiny and racism that Mr. Robinson had to overcome in his career (Bilyeu). Baseball has had many changes to it since it has began, but none have been as big as the integration of African Americans; this changed the attitude of the nation and made everyone come together. Thanks to the Brooklyn Dodgers bringing in a player that held his ground so well against the racism and the scrutiny the integration worked out. Now everyone wants to be like Jackie and make a huge impact in his or her lives like he did. Jackie said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

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