Jackie Robinson Story

THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947. He was the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues. Upon the 50^th anniversary of this occasion, then President Bill Clinton said that Robinson “changed the face of baseball, and America forever.”

Jackie was an amazing athlete who starred in baseball, football, basketball, and track at the University of California at Los Angeles. Despite his success at UCLA, it was still difficult for Robinson to find work or prove his talents. At the end of WWII, America was still a very segregated society. (Segregated means that black and white were separated.) In addition to baseball, the military, public schools, and public transportation were still segregated.

While waiting for a job, Robinson was drafted by the US Army. (drafted=the army chooses you to join.) In the military, black and white troops were still segregated. (segregated=separated) Although Robinson worked hard and advanced through the army ranks, he also had some trouble. When he was asked to move to the back of the bus, he was refused. He was almost kicked out of the army for this.

After leaving the army, Jackie got a job playing baseball in the Negro League. Although he loved playing baseball, salaries and conditions in the Negro League were terrible. It was described as “playing baseball, getting on the bus, eating, sleeping, and playing baseball again.” No matter how tired or hungry the players were, there were still some many restaurants in the South which wouldn’t serve them.

While playing in the Negro League, Robinson was noticed by a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the L.A. Dodgers). Branch Rickey was the president and general manager of the Dodgers. It had long been his dream to hire a black player to play for the Dodgers. Forty years earlier, Rickey was coaching a minor league team with one black player. When the team checked into a hotel, the black player was not allowed to stay at the hotel. The player broke down in tears and Rickey vowed (=promised) that one day he would end such injustice in America.

Rickey and Robinson met in 1945. They had a long and intense three-hour meeting. It took so long because Rickey wanted to make sure Robinson was the right player to break the color barrier. He needed someone with the right character to make such a historic move. After talking with Robinson, he was finally convinced that Robinson was the right man.

When Robinson joined the Dodgers, it was just the beginning of his struggle. Some of his teammates didn’t want to play with a black player. They started signing a petition (=a paper you sign to try to stop some action) saying that they wouldn’t play if Robinson joined the team. Finally, the manager of the Dodgers stopped this by saying, “I don’t care if he’s black or yellow or has stripes like a zebra. I’m the manager and I say he’s playing!”