Jackie Robinson is one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. Jackie’s number is 42 and is retired for all of professional baseball, because of “His dominant characteristic, as an athlete and as a black man, was a competitive flame. Outspoken, controversial, combative, he created critics as well as loyalists. But he never deviated from his opinions.” (Anderson 1). Does Jackie Robinson deserve this, because there were many other players with better stats than Jackie, like Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle? To some he might not have deserved it. However, Jackie did something that would bring a nation closer together, and would help African Americans gain equal rights. Jackie Robinson’s story all started when he was born in Cairo, Georgia …show more content…
But, at this time professional sports were segregated, even though the African American athletes were just as good if not better than the white athletes. Jackie signed a contract with the Kansas City Monarch, who was a Negro League team, for only $400 dollars per month, which translate to $5,240 dollars in today’s cash. This was tough for Jackie, because he played in a very stable place, at UCLA. The Negro Leagues were a much disorganized organization, especially with the heavy travel schedule, and by only being able to talk to Isum by letter. Besides all of these troubles Jackie in 47 games started at shortstop, and hit .387 with 5 homeruns, and 13 stolen bases. These great stats caught the watchful eyes of Major League Scouts, by none of them wanting to talk to him, because he was African American. Even though according to Roger Kahn "He could hit and bunt and steal and run. He had intimidating skills, and he burned with a dark fire.”(Kahn 1). But then Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers was looking to sign an African American to a baseball contract. During the contract conversion between Jackie and Branch, Branch said, “I know you’re a good ballplayer. What I don’t know is whether you have the …show more content…
Jackie would go on to batting .349 and had a .985 field percentage. He was later is named the league’s MVP (Most Valuable Player). Then in the spring of 1947, six days before the start of the season, the Brooklyn Dodgers released their opening day roster. To everyone’s surprise, Jackie was the starting Second Basemen for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers. This is when it became real that Jackie Robinson would become the first African American to play Major League Baseball. On April 15, 1947 Jackie made his Major League debut at Ebbets field, with a crowd of 26,623 including 14,000 African Americans. Jackie didn’t get a hit, but would walk and score a run to help his team win 5 to 3 in his major league debut. The NY Times wrote an article on Jackie the following day. “A decade before Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott, two decades before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed "I Have a Dream," a signature event in the struggle for racial equality unfolded far from Dixie…” (Goldstein