Jackie Robinson Impact On Society

In 1947 baseball was all the rage for kids going up. Young boys playing on their local baseball field pretending to be their favorite baseball players. One young man steps up to bat and starts to rub dirt on his hands just like one of his favorite baseball players, Jackie Robinson. A young white boy in the 1940’s during the height on racial tension and Jim Crow laws was pretending to be a black man. It is no secret that Robinson was one of the most influential players of all time in the sport of baseball. From his long standing organization to help members of minority groups attend higher education to 42 day in major league baseball, where players across the league will wear the number 42. “A life is not important except in the impact it has

Jackie understood that him playing in the major league was bigger than just him playing baseball. It was a step toward the desegregation of baseball and American society and Robinson knew that. Lots of books have been written about not only Robinson’s time in the league but also many on the impact Robinson had on race relations as well as what this meant for the future of African Americans. Jules Tygiel has written a couple books about Robinson and how he was Baseball’s Great Experiment, however he has recently revisited the topic in 2002. Where he reflects on Robinson, race, and the history of baseball. In his recent book Extra Bases, he reflects on the arguments and articles that he wrote about 17 years earlier in his book Baseball’s Great

This tryout was only possible because of the articles in the local paper written by Wendell Smith. Smith gets forgotten about in the history of Robinson. Smith was there for Robinson during his time in the league and was only behind Rachel and Branch Rickey. Smith wrote articles for the public about Robinson and helped get the word out about how good of a person he was. Smith was not only Robinson’s hand the the people but he was also Robinson personal driver and many other things for Robinson as they traveled the country. The reason why Rickey brought Robinson to the Dodgers is surrounded in mystery. When asked why he brought Robinson to the League Rickey’s Answer has never been the same. Sometimes he answered with the story of a player he coached in 1904, who wept from being barred from staying at the same hotel as his teammates. Other times he would cite moral and religious reasons, although he also frequently denied any noble intentions and stated that he desired to make the best possible team. “The Negors will make us winners for years to come,” and he was not wrong, Robinson’s second year in the league the Dodgers won the World Series. Many historians debate that Rickey only brought Robinson into the league to sell more tickets and to win championships. However, Tygiel argues that a combination of these factors and a desire to make a