How Baseball was changed by Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson changed baseball in America in the 1940s by breaking the segregation barrier that was bestowed on baseball. Robinson played in the Negro League for the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1945 Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers negotiated a contract with Robinson that would bring Robinson into the major leagues in 1947. Baseball was segregated because of racial intolerance, economic factors, and other complex reasons. The major leagues would rent out their stadiums to the Negro League teams when their own team would be on the road. For example, if the Brooklyn Dodgers were on the road they would rent out their stadium to the Kansas City Monarchs. Major League team owners also knew if they integrated the Majors the Negro League would lose their best players and the Negro League would be lost. Also, the Majors would lose significant revenue. Branch Rickey had been around baseball all his life. He was a player, coach, manager, and team owner for over sixty years. Branch Rickey was nominated into baseball’s hall of fame and on his plaque it mentions his signing of Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey chose Robinson because he knew he would be able to take all the abuse and keep his cool. Also, he knew Robinson was an outstanding ball player. Branch Rickey has always wanted to integrate baseball since early in his career. Rickey was looking for a strong person who would be able to take the public scrutiny, avoid confrontation, and also a talented ball player. Rickey set his eyes on Robinson because he has had experience in integrating other sports. Robinson attended UCLA and lettered in four other sports. Branch Rickey met with Robinson is August of 1945 after scouting the Negro League... ... middle of paper ... ...ring in more minorities into the game. According to a study done by the University of Central Florida’s Racial and Gender Report Card, 9.1 percent of Major League Baseball players are African American (Gonzalez). That number has not been higher than 15 percent in the last 20 years. Albert Pujols said, “Baseball was an outlet for him to be able to do that, and he had some special talent to go through what he did and still set an example for others. You cannot replace it.” Jackie Robinson changed the way baseball is looked at by Americans. Also, he broke a huge barrier in American History. Robinson helped get rid of segregation. He also, is down as one on of the most respected men in baseball history. Not only a wonderful ball player, but also a wonderful man who went through so much and helped create a path for current and future African American baseball players.
This obstacle was racism. At that time, black people were segregated from the whites. They had to use different bathrooms, water fountains, and were not allowed to be on professional sports teams. This wasn’t very smart of the professional sports teams since many professional ball players were worse than the black ball players. Some black and very talented ball players include, Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and many others. Even though some managers realized that these were talented ball players, they still didn’t sign any black players to the teams. “The Kansas City Monarchs threatened to sue Rickey.” (Robinson 36). The Monarchs were upset that Rickey signed Robinson onto the team. The racism at this time in America was so bad that teams would sue the Dodgers and threaten Jackie if he stepped foot on the field. Some teams, like the Phillies, would let him play, but then curse him out and call him terrible names. In addition, a couple of teams were so scared of playing with a black man that they forfeited professional games! Jackie faced many obstacles on the way to reaching his ultimate goal of breaking the color
“In 1946, there were sixteen Major League Baseball teams, with a total of 400 players on their rosters, every one of the players was white. But when opening day came in 1947, that number dropped to 399, and one man stood apart. (42 2:30)” Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson made his Major League Baseball debut on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Making Jackie Robinson the first African-American to play Major League Baseball (MLB). Jackie’s transition from the Negro Leagues to MLB was not an easy one. As a player, he transitioned very well, but it was Robinson’s teammates, Dodgers fans, the opposing teams and their fans that tested Jackie every chance they got, some hotels even prohibited the Dodgers to stay in their establishments
Do you know anything about Jackie Robinson? Well don’t worry, if you don’t I will explain to you. Jackie Robinson is an inspiration by entering the Major League Baseball and changing history. I think this because he made white players accept him and by changing segregation.
Jackie was chosen by Ricky, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he had made baseball a national sport and succeeded as the first successful black baseball player. However, Jackie Robinson had written, “In a very real sense, black people helped make the experiment succeed. Many who came to the ball park had not been baseball fans before I began to play in the big leagues. Suppressed and repressed for so many years, they needed a victorious black man as a symbol. It would help them believe in themselves. But black support of the first black man in the majors was a complicated matter. The breakthrough created as much danger as it did hope.”(I Never Had It Made
Following the Jim Crow laws of the time, The Monarchs were an all-black league. There was no official law prohibiting black people from playing in major league sports, but the separation was silently and persistently enforced by all owners, presidents, and associates of virtually every major league sports team. Robinson’s luck would change and the U.S.’s view of race would be challenged in 1947, when the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, recruited Robinson into the major leagues.
Breaking the Racial Barrier in Baseball Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie's impact in the world for the black population is enormous. According to Jessie Jackson, "A champion wins a World Series or an Olympic event and is hoisted on the shoulders of the fans.
Jackie Robinson’s ability to successfully integrate his sport set the stage for many others to advocate for an end to segregation in their respective environments. His period of trials and triumphs were significant to changing American perception of the Civil Rights revolution. By becoming the first African-American baseball player to play in the major leagues, he brought down an old misconception that black athletes were inferior to white athletes. Successively, his example would inspire those advocating for their civil rights, he lived out a message of nonviolence similar to the one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived out. Despite the constant prejudice he faced in his sport, he was able to keep himself composed and never retaliate.
Jackie (Robinson), we’ve got no army. There’s virtually nobody on our side. No owners, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I’m afraid that many fans will be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I’m doing this because you are a great ballplayer, a fine gentleman. (Quoted in Giants of Baseball, Gutman, Rickey)
Jackie Robinson first played baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues in 1945. Robinson was first pursued by the Boston Red Sox, a Major League team, but they never replied back to him after his workout (Rampersad 89). Later on in August of 1945 Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, sent a scout to observe and bring in Jackie Robinson (Rampersad 125). When the scout approached Robinson he told him that Rickey was going to start a Negro League team called the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers. What the scout and Robinson did not understand was the persistence of Rickey to meet and speak with him. Robinson eventually agreed and on August 28 in Brooklyn met with Branch Rickey. Rickey immediately told him to marry because he knew that if Robinson accepted he would need the support of a loving wife (Rampersad 126). Rickey then shocked him when he said he wanted
Boom! This sound was very common coming off the bat of Jackie Robinson when he was on the baseball field, but it had a resounding echo on society and especially those fighting for the rights of blacks in the United States. While Jackie Robinson was an incredible player on the field, his more significant impacts were actually on areas of society other than baseball. Until 1947, when Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers and manager Branch Rickey, no other African American had ever played in Major League baseball. This was huge news throughout the United States, and Robinson was voted America’s second most popular personality, only behind Bing Crosby (Dorinson, 2012, p. 55). Until this point, African Americans had been dealing with the constraints of the Jim Crow laws, which enforced segregation of African Americans from whites. However, Robinson breaking the color barrier in a previously completely white sport turned some heads and made people rethink the situation of blacks in American society. Rubenstein (2003) attributed that “one of baseball’s most important roles has been to
Jackie Robinson once said that “"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." (Brainy Quotes). Jackie Robinson faced more abuse than any other baseball player. Jackie Robinson had his mind set on breaking the color barrier for African Americans. Jackie Robinson had the muscle strength and talent to inspire and change the color barrier in Major League baseball. Jackie Robinson was one of the most significant baseball players that America has ever known for Jackie Robinson’s bravery to stop the color barrier for, his inspiration he gave to people all around the world and for his accomplishments during baseball and outside of baseball this made him one of the most valuable players in the National League.
Rickey’s decision upon signing Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs to the Montreal Royals, a farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1946, and later bringing him up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, a Major league team, in April of 1947, impacted more lives than he ever would have imagined (“Robinson as a Dodger: 1947-1956”). Breaking the color line in professional sports contributed to the elimination of greater social issues...
Rickey was a general manager, president, and eventually a 1/3 owner of the Dodgers in 1942. Many saw him as an eccentric man, he was known for being a Methodist man. Branch had been keeping an eye out for a “perfect” candidate to integrate baseball. In the movie 42, they show the process of choosing the perfect candidate that would be used to integrate baseball, they saw Jackie Robinson and they his record and that he knew when to not talk, when to defend himself, and that he had previously played on an integrated team, USC football. Branch felt as if those were the necessary qualities, which the person who would break the baseball color line needed. Many rumors have spread about why Branch Rickey decided to break the color barrier, one of the most well-known one is that financially, the Brooklyn Dodgers were not financially well
pril 15, 1947, the day that changed baseball. Jackie Robinson played his first game in the Major Leagues, breaking the color barrier. Jackie Robinson was born January 31,1919 in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie Robinson was the greatest player in baseball history. He was the first to break the color barrier for baseball. Robinson was so great, that baseball retired his number for all teams forever. Jackie Robinson changed baseball, and the world forever.
The Desegregation of baseball in America was a slow process. Near the end of the 1800's, African American ballplayers were accepted in the Major Leagues, but as their success grew, they were quickly banned from the league. For the fifty-year period that there were no blacks in the Major Leagues, the Negro Leagues were where black ballplayers competed. The Negro Leagues grew and many stars emerged from the leagues that now have a legendary status. When Jackie Robinson joined the Major Leagues in 1954, baseball was once again desegregated (Sailer). The complete integration of the league was not as rapid as many would have expected. Economic reasons seemed to be the main reason why African Americans were brought back into the Major Leagues but there were other factors that contributed.