“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what is going on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” (Robinson) In 1947, America was within a racial crisis. African Americans were forced to sit at the end of the bus with whites ruling all major sports. There was talent from both whites and African Americans, but they were not allowed to play the same sport as one. America was close to breaking the racial barrier when Jackie Robinson opened the door for African Americans to play all sports together as equals. Jackie Robinson fought for the rights of African Americans while achieving athletic and moral greatness.
Brooklyn Dodgers The 1947 season would be different than all other
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This was shut down as soon as Leo Durocher heard of this. Dixie requested to be traded which he was traded right away for his racial behavior. Soon after that, Jackie was facing a whole new problem with the Cubs, who decided to boycott Jackie, with other teams and players. This was a concerning matter, but was quickly put to a stop. If other teams tried to boycott the Dodgers, they would suffer a lifetime ban from baseball. Jackie played on, but he faced another wall when teams called out racial slurs and purposely hit him every chance they got. Jackie was strong and never gave in to all of the challenges he faced. He was constantly facing death threats from fans, but he was finally starting to be accepted by an incoming player, Pee Wee Reece, who put his arm around Jackie and said that they need him in order to win. With all the threats, the Dodgers quickly became stronger and pushed their way up to first place on a winning …show more content…
Jackie finished the season with twenty-nine steals, one hundred twenty-five runs, finished fifth in the most valuable player award, and held the Dodgers record with twelve home runs that season. After that, the Dodgers made it to the World Series. They played the Yankees, who were on a drought for their standards of four years. The Yankees quickly went up three games, but the Dodgers had some fight left in them to force them to seven games. The Dodgers lost in a sad defeat, but they remained hopeful for the next year. Jackie won the Rookie of the Year award, an accomplishment for Jackie and all of baseball. After all, Jackie did what no
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African American had ever done. He opened the door for African Americans to play professional baseball with support from the fans. Jackie finished second in the Admirable American Pole to Bing Crosby. Jackie proved to Dixie and all the players who tried to boycott him that he was the real deal. He proved that he could play baseball as well as the other players, if not better. (1947)