Evan Mora
Jackie Robinson
"I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being." Says Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball star. (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes) Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia and was 28 years old when he broke the color barrier for African American professional baseball players and made his professional debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers as a second baseman. He was married to Rachel Robinson and had three children, David, Sharon, and Jackie Robinson Jr. He died on October 24, 1972 at the young age of 53 in Stamford, Connecticut, but had a huge impact on baseball in the U.S. today. Jackie Robinson’s early life in the 20’s and 30’s gave him a unique perspective in the world of baseball as an African American.
“Jackie was born in trying circumstances because his father left the family soon after his birth. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that his family was the only black household on the block and it was the age of racial discrimination. In order to get away from all this the Robinson family moved to California and Jackie joined UCLA.” (http://www.buzzle.com/) Written by Anish Chandy, an active author and reader of historical citations. Near the end of his junior college enrollment, his closest brother Frank, died in a motorcycle accident, which motivated him to move to UCLA and be closer to his family. Once he transferred to UCLA, he became the first athlete in school history to win letters in four varsity sports in a year: baseball, football, baseball, and track. “Belying his future career, baseball was Robinson's "worst sport" at UCLA; he hit .097 in his only season, although in his first game he went 4-for-4 and twice stole home.” (http://spotlight.ucla.edu) said Dave Greenwald, a contributing writer for the California Progress Report. Robinson left college just shy of graduation and took a job with the National Youth Administration (NYA) in California. After the NYA was ceased by the government, he traveled a little bit to play football for semi-professional teams, but was interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was drafted to serve in WWII, which ended his potential football career. After serving in the Army for about 2 years with segregation problems, he desired to get an education, and continued to play sports. He was offered a deal with a Negro League to get paid about $400 a month, which was a major jump for him. This experience got him motivated to play in the minor leagues with various teams. He moved up to AAA minors to continue his career. After playing in the minor leagues for only one year, he was called up to the major leagues just six days before opening day. He made his Major League Debut on April 15, 1947 for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first black professional baseball player. Although he failed to get a base hit, they still managed a 5-3 win, which was the start to Jackie Robinson’s career.
After his professional debut, Robinson continued to play with the Dodgers, which aroused his teammates to be angered with the fact that he was black. Segregation aroused the team but the manager stepped up for Robinson in a time of need. “I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a … zebra. I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded." Says Leo Durocher, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time.
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