Liam Spahr Ms. Gommermann Honors English 10 6 May 2024. On the field, Jackie Robinson, the player, smacked the ball, dove into the field, and sped around the bases faster than anyone else. He revolutionized baseball, one play at a time. He stole home base during a playoff game. Why do you need to be a member? To prove to everyone that African-Americans are capable of playing in the MLB. Off the field, Jackie Robinson, the person, still had to face discrimination every single day. He was seen as less than white. He faced racist comments and chants everywhere he went. But he still went through all of this to fight for equality. On the field, Jackie Robinson, the player, started a chain reaction that revolutionized the MLB by being the gateway …show more content…
There was no written rule in the MLB that forbids African-American players, yet it was an understanding by every team owner that they wouldn’t sign any African-Americans. And for a long while, no one dared to break this unwritten rule. Following WWII the Major League started growing in diversity, many players started joining the league that were Italian, Irish, Jewish, etc. Despite the entirely white league, one man decided to take a step toward desegregating baseball. Branch Rickey of the Dodgers was this man, “Starting in 1943, Rickey had been searching for a black player to bring into the major leagues, which were closed to black people at the time” (“Jackie Robinson”). Rickey wanted to bring an African-American to the Dodgers because he thought it would benefit the team and he was a civil rights activist. According to Mark Schug, Professor Emeritus at UW Milwaukee, “Before 1947, Major League Baseball club owners worried that white fans would stay away if they signed African American players. They worried that white players would refuse to play with African American players; they feared boycotts, fights, strikes, or worse”. Without Rickey, the integration of baseball may not have happened for another couple decades. He