I Never Had It Made Sparknotes

I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson (1972) is about the African-American baseball legend, Jackie Robinson (1919-1972). Robinson was the grandson of a slave. In 1947, he would become the first African-American to play in a major league sport, breaking numerous baseball records and helping the Brooklyn Dodgers win a World Series in 1955. This work is based on in-depth discussions Jackie Robinson had with the writer Alfred Duckett up until the time of Robinson’s death. The work was praised for its searing honesty and vision for justice for all people.

Its themes include the meaning of personal integrity, the continued fight for racial equality, and the role and meaning of American heroes.

The autobiography begins with

a preface of Robinson’s writing where he discusses his very first day playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Robinson became the very first African-American to play not only major league baseball, but any major league sport. His appearance trigged much shock throughout America; while some accepted his entrance into the game, others wrote him hate mail, issued death threats, and called him the n-word during games.

After the preface, the book follows a straight-forward chronology.

Robinson is the youngest of six children of a sharecropping family in Cairo, Georgia. His father would leave the family when Jackie was six months old. He was then raised by his mother, Madella Robinson. Madella moved the family to LA where she saw more opportunities for her children.

Jackie Robinson was inspired by his mother’s determination and work ethic, as seen by her handling of two labor-intensive, full-time jobs. He would enroll in a community college before entering UCLA.

At UCLA, Robinson met his future wife, Rachel Isum, who would support him through his baseball career and make career for herself as a psychiatric nurse. As a college athlete, Robinson also received several distinguishing honors for outstanding

athletes.

During WWII, Robinson was forced, like many men of the era, to enter the army. He was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii for awhile and was transferred just two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. His hard work would be awarded with a lieutenant ranking. Robinson’s views on racial equality, however, did land him in trouble on occasion. When he refused to move to the back of a bus, i.e. follow the rules of segregation, Robinson was called into military court.

After the war, Robinson continued the talent he showed at UCLA by playing for the Kansas City Monarchs.

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.

While some praised the addition of a black person in baseball, many did not. Robinson goes into detail about his positive relationship with several players, along with his heated association with Walter O’Malley, the Dodger owner, as well as the prominent sportswriter Dick Young, who racism revealed itself in many of Young’s own writing. During his first appearance as a major league baseball player in 1947, Robinsons says that some players were outraged they had to play with him; Rickey said if anyone didn’t want to play with him they could simply leave the

Dodgers.

Rickey was able to continue his “noble experiment” after a large number of black people showed up to games. Often, these were new fans who had never purchased a baseball ticket before. When his fellow ball players and Dodger managers realized Robinson brought in more people, they tone-downed their criticism of him. Robinson knew what a pivotal and potentially revitalizing image this was for African-American who had been marginalized and exploited for most of U.S. history.

After Robinson retired in 1956, he turned many of his energies to politics. He befriended a wide range of wealth, powerful, and influential men, including MLK, Malcom X, Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, and even the conservative writer William Buckley. Robinson said he felt an obligation to use his popular voice to call out certain politicians who were not helping all of their constituents as much as possible.

Robinson believed in building community and details his role as spearheading several businesses in Harlem, including Freedom Bank and Chock full o’Nuts. Robinson also discusses dealing with diabetes in middle age.

Robinson had three children. His more contentious relationship was with his oldest son, Jackie Jr. Jackie Jr., who successfully recovered from a heroin addiction, but would then tragically die in a car accident at 24 years old.

Robinson would die of a heart attack at 53 years old, the same year this book was published.