Jackie Robinson

src: jackierobinson.com

Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 - October 24, 1972) is the second professional American baseball baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when Brooklyn Dodgers started him in first base on April 15, 1947. When Dodgers signed Robinson, they touted the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that has degraded blacks to Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Robinson has a remarkable 10-year MLB career. He was the recipient of the MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was the All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 to 1954, and won the Most Valuable National Player Award in 1949 - the first highly regarded black player. Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the 1955 Dodgers World Series championship.

In 1997, MLB "universal" retired his uniform number, 42, in all major league teams; he is the first pro athlete in any sport to be respected. MLB also adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", for the first time on April 15, 2004, in which each player in each team wore No. 42.

The character of Robinson, his nonviolent use, and his unquestioned talent challenged the traditional basis of separation which then marked many other aspects of American life. He influenced culture and contributed significantly to the civil rights movement. Robinson is also the first black television analyst in MLB, and the first black vice president of the big American company, Chock full o'Nuts. In the 1960s, he helped found Freedom National Bank, an African-American financial institution based in Harlem, New York. After his death in 1972, in recognition of his achievements off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Congress and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Early life

Family and personal life

Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, to a shareholder farmer family in Cairo, Georgia. She is the youngest of five children born to Mallie (McGriff) and Jerry Robinson, after Edgar, Frank, Matthew (nicknamed "Mack") brothers, and Willa Mae. His middle name honors former President Theodore Roosevelt, who died 25 days before Robinson was born. After Robinson's father left the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California.

The extended Robinson family built himself in a housing estate containing two small houses on 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena. Mrs. Robinson works various side jobs to support the family. Growing up in relative poverty in a prosperous community, Robinson and his minority friends were excluded from many recreational opportunities. As a result, Robinson joins an environmental gang, but his friend, Carl Anderson, persuades him to leave him.

John Muir SMA

In 1935, Robinson graduated from Washington Junior High School and enrolled at John Muir College (Muir Tech). Acknowledging his athletic talent, Robinson's sister, Mack (himself an outstanding athlete and silver medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics) and Frank inspired Jackie to pursue his interest in sports.

At Muir Tech, Robinson played some sports at the university level and wrote four of them: soccer, basketball, tracks and baseball. He plays shortstop and catcher on baseball teams, quarterbacks on the football team, and keeps the basketball team. With the track and field squad, he won the award in a broad leap. He is also a member of the tennis team.

In 1936, Robinson won the men's single junior championship at the annual Pacific Coast Negro Beach Tournament and earned a place at the annual Pomona baseball annual tournament, which includes the Ted Williams Hall and Famers in the future. At the end of January 1937, the Pasadena Star-News newspaper reported that Robinson "for two years has been an outstanding athlete at Muir, starring in soccer, basketball, tracks, baseball and tennis."

Pasadena Junior College

After Muir, Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC), where he continued his athletic career by participating in basketball, soccer, baseball and tracks. In the football team, he plays as a quarterback and salvation. He was a shortstop hitter and leadoff for the baseball team, and he broke the school's long jump record held by his brother Mack. Like at Muir High School, most of Jackie's team friends are white. While playing soccer at PJC, Robinson suffered an ankle fracture, a complication that would eventually postpone his deployment status while in the military. In 1938, he was elected to the Junior College All-Southland Team for baseball and was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the region.

That year, Robinson was one of 10 students named for the Mast Order and School Dagger ( Omicron Mu Delta), awarded to students who performed "extraordinary service to school and whose scholastic and civic records are worthy of recognition. "Also at PJC, he was elected to Lancers, a police organization run by students responsible for patrolling various school activities.

An incident at the PJC describes Robinson's impatience with an authority figure he deems racist - a character that will appear repeatedly in his life. On January 25, 1938, he was arrested after a vocal questioning the arrest of a black friend by the police. Robinson received a two-year probation, but the incident - along with another rumored run-in between Robinson and the police - gave Robinson a reputation for combat in the face of racial antagonism. While at PJC, he was motivated by a preacher (Reverend Karl Downs) to attend church regularly, and Downs became a believer for Robinson, a Christian. Toward the end of his PJC term, Frank Robinson (whom Robinson feels the closest of his three brothers) was killed in a motorcycle accident. The event motivates Jackie to pursue her athletic career at the nearby University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she can stay closer to the Franks.

UCLA and later

After graduating from PJC in the spring of 1939, Robinson enrolled at UCLA, where he became the first athlete of the school to win university letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, soccer and tracks.

He was one of four black players on the 1939 Bruins football team; the others are Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson form three of the team's four players. At a time when only a few black students played college football, this made it the most popular combined team at UCLA college football. They are not invincible with four ties on 6-0-4.

On the track and field, Robinson won the 1940 NCAA championship in a long jump on 24Ã, ft. ¹ / ₄ (7.58 m). Relying on his future career, Robinson's "worst sport" at UCLA is baseball; he hit.09 in his only season, although in his first match he went 4-for-4 and twice stole home.

While a senior at UCLA, Robinson meets his future wife, Rachel Isum (b.1922), a new UCLA student who is familiar with Robinson's athletic career at PJC. He played football as a senior, but in 1940 the Bruins won just one game. In the spring, Robinson leaves college just for graduation, even though his mother and Isum are ordering. He took a job as an assistant athletic director with the government's National Youth Administration (NYA) in Atascadero, California.

After the government stopped HIS operations, Robinson went to Honolulu in the fall of 1941 to play soccer for semi-professionals, which racially integrated Honolulu Bears. After a brief season, Robinson returned to California in December 1941 to pursue a career as a run back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League. At that time, however, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place, pulling the United States into World War II and ending Robinson's newborn football career.

Video Jackie Robinson

Military career

In 1942, Robinson was recruited and assigned to a separate Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. Having the necessary qualifications, Robinson and several other black soldiers apply for entry into the School of Officers (OCS) which is then located in Fort Riley. Although early July 1941 the guidelines for the Army OCS had been structured as neutral races, some black applicants were accepted into the OCS until after subsequent directions by the Army leadership. As a result, the application of Robinson and his colleagues was delayed for several months. After protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (later placed at Fort Riley) and the aid of Truman Gibson (then a civil assistant aide to the War Secretary), the men were accepted into the OCS. The experience resulted in personal friendship between Robinson and Louis. After completing the OCS, Robinson was assigned as second lieutenant in January 1943. Shortly thereafter, Robinson and Isum were officially involved.

After receiving his commission, Robinson was transferred to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the "Black Panthers" 761 Tank Battalion. While at Fort Hood, Robinson often used his weekend leave to visit Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Texas; Downs is a pastor of Robinson at Scott United Methodist Church while Robinson attends PJC.

An event on July 6, 1944 stopped Robinson's military career. Pending the results of a hospital test on his ankle he wounded in junior college, Robinson boarded an Army bus with the wife of a fellow countryman; Although the Army had commissioned its own unspecified bus line, the bus driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus. Robinson refused. The driver retreated, but after reaching the end of the line, summoned the military police, who took Robinson into custody. When Robinson then confronted the investigator's job officers about racist questions by officers and his assistants, the officer recommended Robinson to be tried in court. After Robinson's commander in 761, Paul L. Bates, refused to pass legal action, Robinson was briefly transferred to Battalion 758 - in which the commander quickly agreed to prosecute Robinson with several offenses, including, among other allegations, , even though Robinson did not drink.

At the time of the military tribunal in August 1944, the allegations against Robinson had been reduced to two counts of dissent during interrogation. Robinson was released by a panel of nine white officers. Robinson's experience being targeted during court proceedings will be remembered when he later joins the MLB and is subjected to racist attacks. Although his former unit, Battalion Tank 761, became the first black tank unit to see fighting in World War II, Robinson's military court banned him from being deployed abroad; thus, he never saw the action of battle.

After his release, he was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he served as a trainer for army athletics until receiving his honorable return in November 1944. While there, Robinson met former players for Monarchs Kansas City from Negro American League, Robinson to write Monarch and ask for tryout. Robinson took the former player's advice and wrote to Monarch owner Thomas Baird.

Maps Jackie Robinson

Post-military

After his return, Robinson briefly returned to his old soccer club, Los Angeles Bulldogs. Robinson then accepted an offer from his old friend and Rev. pastor. Karl Downs to become an athletic director at Samuel Huston College in Austin, then from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The work included coaching the school basketball team for the 1944-45 season. Since it was a beginner's program, some students tried for the basketball team, and Robinson was even forced to put himself into the line for the exhibition match. Despite his team's lack of competition with opponents, Robinson is respected as a disciplinary coach, and draws admiration, among others, Langston University basketball player Marques Haynes, a future member of Harlem Globetrotters.

src: kenburns.com

Play career

Negro league and main league prospect

In early 1945, when Robinson was at Sam Huston College, the Kansas City Monarchs sent him a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro league. Robinson received a contract for $ 400 per month. Although he played well for Monarchs, Robinson was frustrated by the experience. He had grown accustomed to a structured playing environment in college, and the chaos and comfort of the dark leagues of gambling interests bothered him. Solid travel schedules also put a strain on his relationship with Isum, with whom he can now communicate only with letters. Overall, Robinson plays 47 games on shortstop for Monarchs, hitting 0.387 with five home runs, and registering 13 stolen bases. He also appeared in the 1945 All-Star Negro Game Game, becoming hitless in five at-bats.

During the season, Robinson pursue the potential of major leagues. No black man has played in the major leagues since Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, but the Boston Red Sox is still testing at Fenway Park for Robinson and other blacks on April 16. However, the test is a joke primarily designed to ease the sensitivity of desegregation from the mighty Boston City Councilman Isadore Muchnick. Even with a limited booth on management, Robinson became the target of racial epithets. He let the experiment be humiliated, and more than fourteen years later, in July 1959, the Red Sox became the last major league team to combine the roster.

Other teams, however, have a more serious interest in signing black balplayer. In the mid-1940s, Branch Rickey, club president and general manager of Brooklyn Dodgers, began searching the Negro leagues for additional possibilities on the Dodgers list. Rickey chose Robinson from a promising blacklist and interviewed him for a possible assignment to the Brooklyn International League club of agriculture, the Montreal Royals. Rickey is particularly interested in ensuring that the new person can survive the inevitable racial harassment that will be directed to him. In a famous three-hour exchange on August 28, 1945, Rickey asked Robinson if he could confront a racial animus without taking the bait and reacting angrily - a concern given earlier Robinson's arguments with law enforcement officials at the PJC and in the military. Robinson was startled: "Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?" Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player "with enough courage not to fight." After getting Robinson's commitment to "turn the other cheek" into racial antagonism, Rickey agreed to sign him for a $ 600 contract a month, equal to $ 8,156 today. Rickey does not offer compensation to Monarch, instead believing all Negro league players are free agents because the contract does not contain a backup clause. Among them Rickey discusses prospects with Wendell Smith, the writer for the Pittsburgh Courier's black weekly, which, according to the owner and president of the Cleveland Indian team Bill Veeck "influenced Rickey to take Jack Robinson, who for him never really got credit."

Though he requires Robinson to keep the secret order for now, Rickey is committed to officially signing Robinson before 1 November 1945. On October 23, it was publicly announced that Robinson would be assigned to the Royals for the 1946 season. On the same day, with representatives of the Royals and Dodgers present, Robinson officially signed his contract with the Royals. In what came to be called "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s. He was not necessarily the best player in the Negro league, and Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson's black flair was upset when Robinson was first picked. Larry Doby, who broke the color line in the League of the Americas in the same year as Robinson, said, "One of the things that disappointed and disappointed many black players at the time was that Jack was not the best player.Best is Josh Gibson. one reason why Josh died so quickly - he was heartbroken. "

Rickey's offer allowed Robinson to leave Monarch and his tiring bus journey, and he returned to Pasadena. In September, he signed with Chet Brewer's Kansas City Royals, a post-season barnstorming team in the California Winter League. After that off-season, he briefly toured South America with other barnstorming teams, while his fiancée Isum pursued nursing opportunities in New York City. On February 10, 1946, Robinson and Isum were married by their old friend, Reverend Karl Downs.

Little League

In 1946, Robinson arrived in Daytona Beach, Florida, for spring training with the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League (the appointment of "AAA" for the highest level minor baseball league was first used in the 1946 season). Clay Hopper, the Royals manager, asked Rickey to assign Robinson to another Dodger affiliate, but Rickey refused.

The controversial presence of Robinson in Florida is castrated with racialism. Since he was not allowed to live with his teammates at the team hotel, he instead stayed at the home of a local black politician. Since the Dodgers organization did not have a spring training facility (Dodger-controlled spring training compound in Vero Beach known as "Dodgertown" not opened until spring 1948), scheduling was subject to the slope of the local area, some of which rejected any event involving Robinson or Johnny Wright, another black player Rickey had signed into the Dodgers organization in January. In Sanford, Florida, the police chief threatened to cancel the game if Robinson and Wright did not stop the training there; as a result, Robinson was sent back to Daytona Beach. In Jacksonville, the stadium was closed with a padlock without warning on match day, on the orders of the Park City and Public Property director. In DeLand, the scheduled day game is delayed, as if due to problems with stadium electric lighting.

After much lobbying local officials by Rickey himself, the Royals were allowed to host matches involving Robinson in Daytona Beach. Robinson made his Royals debut at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach on March 17, 1946, in an exhibition match against team masters, Dodgers. Robinson became the first black player to openly play for a minor league team against a major league team since the de facto baseball color line had been implemented in the 1880s.

Later in spring training, after some less prominent performances, Robinson shifted from shortstop to second base, allowing him to make a shorter toss to the first base. Robinson's appearance soon recovered. On April 18, 1946, the Roosevelt Stadium hosted the Jersey City Giants' season opener against the Montreal Royals, marking the professional debut of Jackie Robinson of the Royals and the first time a color barrier had been broken in a match between two minor league clubs. Doing a throw on Robinson is Warren Sandel who has played against him when they both live in California. During the first Robinson in the bat, the Jersey City catcher, Dick Bouknight, demanded Sandel to throw to Robinson, but Sandel refused. Although Sandel persuaded Robinson to land on his first bat, in five trips to the plate, Robinson ended up with four hits, including his first hit, a three-run home run, in the third inning of the game. He also scored four runs, drove in three, and stole two bases in the 14-1 Royals win. Robinson went on to lead the International League that season with an average of 0.349 and 0.985 percent agile, and he was named the Most Valuable Player in the league. Though he often faces hostility while traveling (Royals is forced to cancel a southern exhibition tour, for example), the Montreal fan base enthusiastically supports Robinson. Whether fans support or oppose it, Robinson's presence in the field is a gift to attend; more than a million people went to a game involving Robinson in 1946, a remarkable figure by International League standards. In the fall of 1946, after a baseball season, Robinson returned to California and briefly played professional basketball for the short-lived Los Angeles Red Devils.

Premier League

Break the color barrier (1947)

The following year, six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers summoned Robinson to the premier league. With Eddie Stanky entrenched in second base for Dodgers, Robinson played his first major league season as first baseman. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at a relatively advanced age of 28 at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, over 14,000 of whom were black. Although he failed to get a basic blow, he walked and scored in a 5-3 Dodgers victory. Robinson became the first player since 1880 to openly break the main league baseball color line. Black fans started flocking to see Dodgers when they came to town, leaving their Negro league team.

Robinson's promotion met in a generally positive, although mixed, acceptance among newspapers and white league players. However, racial tension is at the Dodger club. Some Dodger players insinuate they will sit out rather than play with Robinson. The rebellion broke out when the Dodgers management took a stand against Robinson. Manager Leo Durocher tells the team, "I do not care if the person is yellow or black, or if he has fucked zebra lines, I am the manager of this team, and I say he is playing. all rich, and if any of you can not use the money, I will see that you are all traded. "

Robinson was also ridiculed by the opposing team. Some, especially the St. Louis Cardinals, threatened to attack if Robinson was played, but also to spread strikes throughout the National League. The plot was leaked by the Cardinals team doctor, Robert Hyland, to a friend, Rutherford's "Rud" Rennie, Rutherford's New York Herald Tribune. The reporter, concerned about protecting Hyland's secrecy and work, in turn leaked it to colleagues and editors, Stanley Woodward, whose next report with other sources protects Hyland. Woodward's article made national headlines. After the threat was revealed, National League President Ford Frick and the Baseball Commissioner, Happy Chandler, informed him that any strike player would be suspended. "You will find that the friends you think you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be ostracized," threatened Chandler. "I do not care if half the league strikes, those who do so will face rapid retaliation, all will be suspended and I do not care if it destroys the National League for five years.This is the United States and one citizen has many rights to play as the other. "Woodward's article received the Dutton EP Award in 1947 for Best Sports Reporting. New York Times Red Smith columnist turned to the Cardinal's 1967 Cardinal strike in 1977, simultaneously a series of warning articles appeared on the 30th anniversary of Robinson's signing with Dodgers. Smith remembers his old friend's section of the Herald Tribune in uncovering the conspiracy of the players' attacks. That would work, Smith wrote, "... if Rud Rennie and Stanley Woodward do not reveal their intentions in the New York Herald Tribune ."

Robinson remains the target of rough physical games by opponents (especially Cardinals). At one time, he received a seven-inch wound on his leg from Enos Slaughter. On April 22, 1947, during a match between Dodgers and Phillies Phillies, Phillies player and manager Ben Chapman called Robinson a "negro" from their restroom and shouted that he had to "return to the cotton fields". Rickey later recalled that Chapman "did more than anyone to unite the Dodgers.When he poured out an unseemly torture, he compressed and united thirty men."

Robinson, however, received a significant boost from some major league players. Robinson named Lee "Jeep" Handley, who played for the Phillies at the time, as the first opposing player to want it well. Dodgers team mate, Pee Wee Reese, came to Robinson's defense with a famous phrase, "You can hate a man for various reasons. Color is not one of them." In 1948, Reese embraced Robinson in response to fans shouting racial insults at Robinson before the game in Cincinnati. A sculpture by sculptor William Behrends, launched at KeySpan Park on November 1, 2005, commemorates this event by representing Reese with his arm around Robinson. Jewish baseball star Hank Greenberg, who had to deal with a racial epithet during his career, also encouraged Robinson. After the incident where Greenberg collided with Robinson in first base, he "whispered a few words into Robinson's ear", which Robinson characterized as "words of encouragement." Greenberg has advised him to overcome his criticism by defeating them in the game. Robinson also often talks with Larry Doby, who has had his own trouble since becoming the first black league player in the American League with Indian Cleveland, when the two talked to each other over the phone throughout the season.

Robinson finished the season after playing in 151 games for the Dodgers, averaging 0.297 batting, 0.383 on-base percentages, and 0.427 slugging percentage. He has 175 hits (scored 125 runs) including 31 doubles, 5 triples, and 12 home runs, driving in 48 runs for the year. Robinson led the league in a sacrifice, with 28, and at the stolen base, with 29. His cumulative performance earned him the First League Premier League Rookie Award (Rookie League and National Award This year was not awarded until 1949).

MVP, Congressional testimony, and film biography (1948-1950)

Following Stanky's trade to Boston Braves in March 1948, Robinson took over the second base, where he recorded a.980 percentage of the field that year (second in the National League in that position, fractionally behind Stanky). Robinson has an average of batting, 296 and 22 bases being stolen for this season. In the 12-7 victory against St. Louis Cardinals on August 29, 1948, he hit to cycle - home run, triple, double, and single in the same game. The Dodgers briefly moved to first place in the National League in late August 1948, but they eventually finished third as Braves went on to win the league title and lost to the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.

Racial pressure on Robinson declined in 1948 when a number of other black players entered the premier league. Larry Doby (who broke the color barrier in the American League on July 5, 1947, just 11 weeks after Robinson) and Satchel Paige played for the Cleveland Indians, and Dodgers had three other black players besides Robinson. In February 1948, he signed a $ 12,500 contract (equal to $ 127,320 today) with Dodgers; while a significant amount, this was less than Robinson made out of season from a tour of vaudeville, where he answered pre-arranged baseball questions, and the tour talked about the South. In between tours, he underwent surgery on his right ankle. Due to off-season activities, Robinson is reported to a training camp of  £ 30 (14 kg) overweight. He lost weight during the training camp, but the diet left him weak on the plate. In 1948, Wendell Smith's book, Jackie Robinson: My Own Story , was released.

In the spring of 1949, Robinson turned to George Sisler's Hall of Fame, working as a Dodgers adviser, to pat his hands. At Sisler's suggestion, Robinson spent hours on a tee, learning to hit the ball into the right court. Sisler taught Robinson to anticipate fastball, on the theory that it was easier to then adjust to a slower curveball. Robinson also notes that "Sisler showed me how to stop crashing, how to check my swing up to the last fraction of the second". The coaching helped Robinson to increase his averages from 0.296 in 1948 to 0.342 in 1949. In addition to the improved batting average, Robinson stole 37 bases of the season, was second in the league for both double and triple, and was listed 124 Walking Beaten with 122 matches. For the performance Robinson won the Most Valuable Player Award for the National League. Baseball fans also chose Robinson as the second baseman for the 1949 All-Star Game - the first All-Star Game to include black players.

That year, a song about Robinson by Buddy Johnson, "Do You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?", Reaching number 13 on the charts; Count Basie notes the famous version. Eventually, Dodgers won the National League title, but lost five games to the New York Yankees in the 1949 World Series.

The summer of 1949 brought unwanted disturbance to Robinson. In July, he was summoned to testify before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Non-American Activities (HUAC) on a statement made in April by black athlete and actor Paul Robeson. Robinson was reluctant to testify, but he finally agreed to do so, fearing it might have a negative impact on his career if he refused.

In 1950, Robinson led the National League in a double drama made by the second baseman with 133. His year's salary was the highest each Dodger had paid to that point: $ 35,000 ($ 356.003 in 2017 dollars). He finished the year with 99 running scored, averaging 0.328 batting, and 12 bases stolen. That year, the release of a film biography of Robinson's life, The Jackie Robinson Story, in which Robinson played alone, and actress Ruby Dee plays Rachael "Rae" (Isum) Robinson. The project was previously postponed when the film's producers refused to approve the request of two Hollywood studios that the film included scenes of Robinson being taught in baseball by a white man. The New York Times writes that Robinson, "does rarely play a major role in the picture, displaying the calm assurance and calm that may be envied by many Hollywood stars."

Robinson Hollywood utilizes, however, not sitting well with co-owner of Dodgers Walter O'Malley, who is called Robinson as "Rickey's prima donna". In late 1950, Rickey's contract as president of Tim Dodgers ended. Fear of constant disagreement with O'Malley, and without any hope to be reappointed as President of the Dodgers, Rickey cashing quarter financial interest in the team, making O'Malley holds full control of the franchise. Rickey soon became general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Robinson was disappointed by the turn of events and wrote sympathetic to Rickey, which he regarded as a father figure, stated, "Regardless of what happened to me in the future, all of which can be placed on what you have done and, believe me. I appreciate it. "

Racing pennant and outside interests (1951-1953)

Prior to the 1951 season, O'Malley reportedly offered Robinson the job of the Montreal Royals manager, who was effective at the end of Robinson's playing career. O'Malley quoted in Montreal Standard said, "Jackie told me that she would be happy and honored to address this managerial post" - despite the different reports about whether the position was ever formally offered.

During the 1951 season, Robinson led the National League in a double drama made by second baseman for the second year in a row, with 137. He also kept the Dodgers in a fight for the banners of 1951. During the last game of the regular season, in the 13th inning , he got a blow to offset the game, and then won the game with a home run on the 14th. This forced the best-of-three playoff series against the New York Giants crosstown rivals.

Despite the heroics of Robinson's regular season, Dodgers lost pennants at the famous Bobby Thomson home run, known as Shot Heard 'Round the World, on October 3, 1951. Overcoming his grief, Robinson obediently watched Thomson's feet to make sure he touched all bases. Dodgers sportscaster Vin Scully later noted that the incident showed "how many of Robinson's competitors." He finished the season with 106 goalscoring runs, an average of 0.335 batting, and 25 bases stolen.

Robinson had an average year for him in 1952. He completed the year with 104 runs, an average average of.308, and 24 stolen bases. However, he notes a high percentage of on-base career in.436. The Dodgers improved their performance from a year earlier, winning the National League banner before losing the 1952 World Series to the New York Yankees in seven games. That year, on Robinson's Youth Wants to Know television show, Robinson challenged Yankees general manager, George Weiss, to his team's race record, which has yet to sign a black player. Sportswriter Dick Young, described by Robinson as a "fanatic," says, "If there's one flaw in Jackie, it's a common thing, he believes that all the unpleasant things that happen to him happen because of the darkness." 1952 season is the last year Robinson is a daily starter in second base. After that, Robinson played diverse in first, second, and third base, shortstop, and in outfield, with Jim Gilliam, another black player, taking over the second basic task everyday. Robinson's interest began to shift toward the prospect of managing the premier league team. He hopes to gain experience with managing in the Puerto Rican Winter League, but according to New York Post , Commissioner Selamat Chandler declined the request.

In 1953, Robinson had 109 runs, an average of.329 and 17 steals, leading Dodgers to other National League banners (and other World Series losses to the Yankees, this time in six games). Robinson's continuing success resulted in a series of death threats. He was not persuaded, however, from addressing racial issues openly. That year, he served as editor for Our Sports magazine, a periodic magazine focusing on sports issues of Negro; contributions to magazines include an article about the separation of the golf course by Robinson's old friend, Joe Louis. Robinson also publicly criticized the separate hotels and restaurants that serve the Dodger organization; a number of these companies are integrated as a result, including the five star Chase Park Hotel in St. Louis. Louis.

World Championships and retirement (1954-1956)

In 1954, Robinson scored 62 goals, averaging 0.311, and 7 steals. His best day on the plate was on June 17, when he hit two home runs and two doubles. The following fall, Robinson won the only championship when the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series. Although the team enjoyed the highest success, 1955 was the worst year in Robinson's individual career. He hit.256 and just stole 12 bases. The Dodgers tried Robinson in the outfield and as a third baseman, both because of his diminished abilities and because Gilliam was founded in second base. Robinson, then 37 years old, missed 49 games and did not play in Game 7 World Series. Robinson missed the game as manager Walter Alston decided to play Gilliam in second and Don Hoak in third. That season, Dodgers' Don Newcombe became the first major black league pitcher to win twenty matches in a year.

In 1956, Robinson had a 61 run score, averaging 0.275, and 12 steals. At that time, he began to show the effects of diabetes, and lost interest in the prospect of playing or managing professional baseball. After the season Robinson was traded by Dodgers to New York Giants rivals for Dick Littlefield and $ 35,000 in cash (equals $ 315,043 today). Trade, however, is never finished; Unbeknownst to Dodgers, Robinson has agreed with full Chock president o'Nuts to quit baseball and become an executive with the company. Because Robinson had sold the exclusive rights to each retirement story to the magazine Look two years earlier, his retirement decision was expressed through magazines, not through the Dodgers organization.

src: www.biography.com

Legacy

Robinson's premier league debut ended about sixty years of segregation in professional baseball, known as the baseball color line. After World War II, several other powers also led the country towards increasing equality for blacks, including their accelerated migration to the North, where their political influence grew, and President Harry Truman military desegregation in 1948. Robinson violated the baseball color of the line and his professional success symbolizes this broader change and shows that the struggle for equality is more than a political issue. Martin Luther King, Jr. saying that he was "a legend and symbol in his own time", and that he "challenged the dark sky of intolerance and frustration." According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Robinson's efforts are a monumental step in the civil rights revolution in America... His achievements allow black Americans and whites to become more respectful and open to one another and more appreciate everyone's ability. "

Started his major league career at the relatively advanced age of twenty-eight, he played only ten seasons from 1947 to 1956, all for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career, Dodgers played in six World Series, and Robinson himself played in six All-Star Games. In 1999, he was posthumously referred to as the Premiership All-Century Baseball Team.

Robinson's career is generally considered to mark the beginning of a long "ball long" era in baseball, where reliance on raw hitting forces gives way to a balanced offensive strategy that uses foot speed to create a run through aggressive baserunning. Robinson showcased the combination of ability and speed of hit that epitomized the new era. He scored more than 100 times in six of ten seasons (averaging over 110 runs from 1947 to 1953), had an average of 0.311 careers, a career percentage of 0.409, a percentage of 0.474 slugging, and was substantially more run than strikeouts (740 to 291). Robinson is one of only two players over the 1947-56 range to collect at least 125 steal while registering a slugging percentage of more than.425 (Minnie MiÃÆ' Â ± oso is another). He collected 197 stolen bases in total, including 19 home thefts. None of the latter is a double steal (where players steal home aided by players stealing another base at the same time). Robinson has been referred by author David Falkner as "the father of modern-day theft".

Historical statistical analysis shows Robinson is an outstanding player for ten years in the major league and in almost every position he plays. After playing his rookie season at first base, Robinson spent most of his career as a second baseman. He led the league between the second basemen in 1950 and 1951. Toward the end of his career, he played about 2,000 innings in third base and around 1,175 rounds outside, which was superior in both.

Judging by himself, Robinson said, "I do not care about your desires or dislike me... all I ask is that you respect me as a human being." Regarding Robinson's quality on the pitch, Leo Durocher said, "Yeah, want a guy who comes to play.This guy does not just come to play.He comes to defeat you.He comes to the damn bat things on your ass."

On stage, movie and television depictions

Robinson portrays himself in the 1950 movie The Jackie Robinson Story . Other depictions include:

• John Lafayette, on ABC's 1978 special television "A Home Run for Love" (broadcast as ABC Afterschool Special ).
• David Alan Grier, in Broadway's Broadway production in 1981 The First .
• Michael-David Gordon, in the 1989 Broadway Musical's production, Play to Win .
• Andre Braugher, in the 1990 TNT television drama Jackie Robinson's Court of Justice.
• Blair Underwood, in the 1996 HBO television movie Soul of the Game .
• Antonio Todd in "Colors", the 2005 episode of the CBS television series Cold Case .
• Chadwick Boseman, in the movie 2013 42 .

Robinson is also the subject of the 2016 PBS documentary, Jackie Robinson, directed by Ken Burns and features Jamie Foxx performing voice-over as Robinson.

src: www.biography.com

Post-baseball life

Robinson once told future Hall of Fame candidates, Hank Aaron that "the baseball game is great, but the biggest thing is what you do after your career is over." Robinson retired from baseball at the age of 37 on January 5, 1957. Later that year, after he complained of many physical ailments, his doctor diagnosed him with diabetes, a disease that also befell his brothers. Although Robinson adopted an insulin injection regimen, the state of the drug at that time could not prevent the deterioration of Robinson's physical condition from the disease.

In his first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, Robinson urged voters to consider only his field qualifications, rather than his cultural impact on the game. He was voted on the first vote, becoming the first black player to be inducted into the Cooperstown museum.

In 1965, Robinson served as an analyst for the weekly Major League Baseball Game of the Week, the first black man to do so. In 1966, Robinson was hired as general manager for the short-lived Brooklyn Dodgers of the Continental Football League. In 1972, he served as a part-time commentator at the Montreal Expos.

On June 4, 1972, Dodgers retired his uniform number, 42, along with Roy Campanella (39) and Sandy Koufax (32). From 1957 to 1964, Robinson was vice president for personnel at Chock full O'Nuts; he was the first black man to serve as vice-president of a large American company. Robinson has always regarded his business career as the leading cause of blacks in commerce and industry. Robinson also presided over the 1988 Freedom Fund Drive National Association for the Progress of Colorful People (NAACP), and served on the board of the organization until 1967. In 1964, he helped found, with businessman Harlem Dunbar McLaurin, the Freedom National Bank commercial owned and operated black based in Harlem. He also served as chairman of the bank's first board. In 1970, Robinson founded the Jackie Robinson Construction Company to build housing for low-income families.

Robinson is active in politics throughout his post-baseball life. He identifies himself as an independent politician, although he holds conservative opinions on several issues, including the Vietnam War (he once wrote to Martin Luther King, Jr. to defend Johnson's Military Administration policy). After supporting Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy, Robinson later praised Kennedy actively for his stand on civil rights. Robinson was angered by the conservative Republican opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, although a higher percentage of Democrats voted against him in both the House and Senate. He became one of six national directors for the Nelson Rockefeller campaign that failed to be nominated as a Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election. After the party nominated Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Robinson left a party convention commenting that he now has "a better understanding about what it's like to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany ". He then became a special assistant for public affairs when Rockefeller was re-elected governor of New York in 1966. Turning his loyalty to the Democrats, he later supported Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in 1968.

Robinson protested against the lack of major leagues of minority managers and headquarters employees, and he declined an invitation to appear in parent games at Yankee Stadium in 1969. He made his last public appearance on October 15, 1972, throwing the first throw of the ceremony before Game 2 from the World Series at the Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. He gratefully accepted the plaque in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his MLB debut, but also commented, "I would be very excited and proud when I look at the third basic training line one day and see a black face manage in baseball." This desire was met only after Robinson's death: after the 1974 season, the Cleveland Indians gave their managerial positions to Frank Robinson (nothing to do with Jackie), a Hall of Fame-bound player who will continue to manage the other three teams. Despite the success of both Robinsons and other black players, the number of African-American players in Major League Baseball has declined since the 1970s.

src: www.lavidabaseball.com

Family life and death

After Robinson retired from baseball, his wife, Rachel Robinson, pursued a career in academic nursing. He became an assistant professor at the Yale School of Nursing and nursing director at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. He also served on the board of Freedom National Bank until it closed in 1990. He and Jackie have three children: Jackie Robinson Jr. (1946-1971), Sharon Robinson (b.1950), and David Robinson (b) 1952).

Robinson's eldest son, Jackie Robinson Jr., suffered emotional distress during his childhood and entered a special education at an early age. He enrolled in the Army in search of a disciplined environment, served in the Vietnam War, and was wounded in action on 19 November 1965. After he was deported, he struggled with drug problems. Robinson Jr finally completed a treatment program at Daytop Village in Seymour, Connecticut, and became a counselor at the institute. On June 17, 1971, he was killed in a car accident at the age of 24. His son's drug addiction experience turned Robinson Sr into an avid anti-drug raider toward the end of his life.

Robinson did not live longer than his son. Complications from heart disease and diabetes weaken Robinson and make him almost blind in middle age. On October 24, 1972, nine days after his appearance in the World Series, Robinson died of a heart attack at his home at 95 Cascade Road in North Stamford, Connecticut; he is 53 years old. Robinson's funeral service on 27 October 1972, at Riverside Church in Manhattan next to Grant's Tomb in Morningside Heights, attracted 2,500 mourners. Many of his former teammates and other famous baseball players serve as bearers, and Reverend Jesse Jackson gives the speech. Tens of thousands of people lined the route of the next procession to Robinson's funeral at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, where he was buried beside his son Jackie and mother-in-law Zellee Isum. Twenty-five years after Robinson's death, Interboro Parkway was renamed to Jackie Robinson Parkway in his memory. The Parkway divides the two graves near Robinson's grave.

After Robinson's death, his widow founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and he remains an officer by 2018. On April 15, 2008, he announced that in 2010 the foundation will open a museum devoted to Jackie in Lower Manhattan. Princess Robinson, Sharon, became a midwife, educator, education program director for MLB, and author of two books about her father. His youngest son, David, who has six children, is a coffee farmer and social activist in Tanzania.

src: news.utexas.edu

Awards and acknowledgments

According to a poll conducted in 1947, Robinson was the second most popular man in the country, behind Bing Crosby. In 1999, he was named by Time in the list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Also in 1999, he was ranked 44th on the Sports News list of the 100 Greatest Players in Baseball and was elected to the Premiership Baseball Major League team as the top voter in the second basemen. Baseball's baseball writer Bill James, in the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, placed Robinson as the 32nd best player of all time strictly on the basis of his performance on the pitch, noting that he was one of the best. players in the league throughout his career. Robinson was one of 25 charter members of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984. In 2002, Molefi Kete Asante entered Robinson into the list of 100 Biggest African Americans. Robinson has also been honored by the United States Post Office on three separate stamps, in 1982, 1999, and 2000.

The city of Pasadena has recognized Robinson in several ways. Brookside Park, located next to the Rose Bowl, features baseball diamonds and stadiums named Jackie Robinson Field. The Human Services Department of the city operates the Jackie Robinson Center, a community outreach center that provides healthcare. In 1997, a $ 325,000 bronze statue (equivalent to $ 495,450 today) by artist Ralph Helmick, Stu Schecter, and John Outterbridge depicting Robinson's statue and his nine-foot brother standing on Garfield Avenue, opposite the door main entrance of Pasadena City. Hall; The granite trail contains a list of several donors to the commission project, hosted by the Robinson Memorial Foundation and supported by members of the Robinson family.

Major League Baseball has honored Robinson many times since his death. In 1987, both the Rookie of the Year Awards National and America renamed the "Jackie Robinson Award" in honor of the first recipient (Robinson Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 covering both leagues). On April 15, 1997, Robinson's jersey number, 42, has retired throughout Major League Baseball, the first time any jersey number has been retired in one of America's four major sports leagues. Under the terms of retirement, the grandfather clause allows a handful of players who use number 42 to continue to do so as a tribute to Robinson, until when they change teams or jersey numbers. It affects players like Mets' Butch Huskey and Boston's Mo Vaughn. The Yankees' Mariano Rivera, who retired at the end of the 2013 season, is the last player in Major League Baseball to wear jersey number 42 on a regular basis. Since 1997, only the number of Wayne Gretzky 99, who retired by the NHL in 2000, has retired in the league. There is also a call for MLB to retire number 21 across the league in honor of Roberto Clemente, a sentiment opposed by the Robinson family. Hispanic advocates in the United States want the Clemente number to set aside the late Robinson's no. 42 in 1997, but Sharon Robinson maintains a position that such honor should still apply to Jackie Robinson alone.

As an exception to the retired-number policy, MLB began honoring Robinson by allowing players to wear number 42 on April 15, Jackie Robinson's Day, which is an annual celebration that began in 2004. For the 60th anniversary of Robinson's premier league debut, MLB invited players to wear number 42 on Jackie Robinson's Day in 2007. The move was originally the idea of ​​outsider Ken Griffey, Jr., who asked Rachel Robinson's permission to use the number. Upon receiving his permission, Commissioner Bud Selig not only allowed Griffey to use the number, but also extended invitations to all major league teams to do the same. In the end, more than 200 players have numbered 42, including the entire list of Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Tribute resumed in 2008, when, during the game on April 15, all members of Mets, Cardinals, Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays used Robinson 42 numbers. On June 25, 2008, MLB posted a new plaque for Robinson at the Baseball Hall of Fame to commemorate its impact on the ground and its game statistics. In 2009, all uniformed personnel (players, managers, coaches, and referees) used the number 42 on April 15.

In November 2006 a breakthrough for Citi Field, a new baseball stadium for the New York Mets, it was announced that the main entrance, modeled on one at Ebbets Field Brooklyn, would be called Jackie Robinson Rotunda. The rotunda was dedicated at the opening of Citi Field on April 16, 2009. It honors Robinson with a large quote that includes a curve in the facade and features a large freestanding statue number, 42, which has been the main attraction. Mets owner Fred Wilpon announces that the Mets - along with Citigroup and Jackie Robinson Foundation - will set up the Jackie Robinson Museum and Learning Center, located at Jackie Robinson Foundation headquarters in One Hudson Square, along Canal Street beneath Manhattan. Together with the museum, scholarships will be given to "live youth and realize Jackie's ideals." The museum hopes to open in 2019. At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Robinson statue was introduced in 2017.

Since 2004, the National Baseball Player of Aflac High School This Year has presented "Jackie Robinson Award".

Robinson has also been recognized outside of baseball. In December 1956, the NAACP recognized him with the Spingarn Medal, which is given annually for the highest achievement by an African-American. President Ronald Reagan posthumously gave the Robinson Presidential Medal of Freedom on March 26, 1984, and on March 2, 2005, President George W. Bush gave Robinson's widow to the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress; Robinson is only the second baseball player to receive the award, after Roberto Clemente. On August 20, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, announced that Robinson was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at the Museum of History, Women, and California Art in Sacramento.

A number of buildings have been named in honor of Robinson. The UCLA Bruins baseball team plays at Jackie Robinson Stadium, which, due to the efforts of Jackie Mack's brother, features a sculpture of Robinson's memorial by sculptor Richard H. Ellis. The stadium also launched Robinson's new mural by Mike Sullivan on April 14, 2013. The City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida was renamed Jackie Robinson Ballpark in 1990 and Robinson's statue with two children stood in front of the baseball stadium. His wife Rachel was present for dedication on September 15, 1990. A number of facilities at Pasadena City College (the successor of PJC) were named in honor of Robinson, including Robinson Field, a soccer/soccer/track facility named for Robinson and his friend. brother Mack. The New York Public School system has named a high school after Robinson, and Dorsey High School plays at the Los Angeles football stadium named after him. In 1976, his home in Brooklyn, Jackie Robinson House, was declared a National Historic Landmark. Brooklyn residents want to turn their home into a city landmark. Robinson also has an asteroid named after it, 4319 Jackierobinson. In 1997, the United States Mint issued a silver dollar warning of Jackie Robinson, and a five dollar gold coin. That same year, New York City renamed Park Interboro in his honor.

In 2011, the US placed a plaque at Robinson Montreal's home to honor the end of separation in baseball. The house, at 8232 avenue de GaspÃÆ'Â © near Jarry Park, was Robinson's residence when he played for the Montreal Royals during 1946. In a letter read during the ceremony, Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, wrote: "I remember Montreal and the house was very good and always had a warm feeling for the big city. Before Jack and I moved to Montreal, we had just been through some very rough treatment in the racial south during spring training in Florida.In the end, Montreal was the perfect place for him to We have never had a threatening or unpleasant experience there, people are very friendly and see Jack as a player and as a man. "

On November 22, 2014, UCLA announced that it will officially retire number 42 in all university sports, effective immediately. While Robinson wore several different numbers during his UCLA career, the school voted 42 for it to be an indelible identification with him. The only unaffected sport was a men's basketball, who had previously retired for Walt Hazzard's number (although Kevin Love was actually the last player in the sport to wear 42, with Hazzard's blessing). In a move paralleled with MLB when retiring the number, UCLA allowed three athletes (in women's soccer, softball, and soccer) who have been using 42 to continue to do so for the rest of their UCLA career. The school also announced it would clearly display the numbers in all its athletic venues.

Jersey Robinson took it home in 1947 after its rookie season was sold at a $ 2.05 million auction on November 19, 2017. The price was the highest ever paid for the post-World War II jersey.

src: cdn.vox-cdn.com

See also

• Civil Rights Games (including the MLB Beacon Award)
• DHL Hometown Heroes
• Glass ceiling
• First person list in Africa-America
• List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date
• List of Major Baseball batting champions
• List of baseball Baseball career baseball stolen
• List of Major League Baseball Retired numbers
• List of Premier Leaders for Premiership Contest
• List of Major League Baseball players who spend their entire career with one franchise
• List of Major League Baseball players to hit for cycles
• The NCAA list of major college leaders rushing every year
• List of annual leaders and annual return of NCAA leaders

src: data.logograph.com

References

Bibliography

src: mediadownloads.mlb.com

Further reading

• Robinson, Jackie, Jules Tygiel, eds. (1997). Readers Jackie Robinson: Perspectives on American Hero . Dutton Penguin. ISBN 978-0-525-94096-8. CS1 maint: Using the parameter editor (link)

External links

• Jackie Robinson Foundation
• Jackie Robinson at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-References, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Baseball league baseball stats and player information from Baseball-Reference (Negro league)
• National Archives: White House Correspondent Jackie Robins

  Source of the article : Wikipedia