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Jackie Robinson: Major League Baseball
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Jackie Robinson did it all. He scared the pitchers, rattled the fielders broke the batting record books but most importantly he opened the doors for the blacks in Major League Baseball. Baseball was a sport that was run by the Whites and played by the Whites, this had changed forever.
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On April 15, 2007, the 60th anniversary of Robinson's major league debut, Major League Baseball invited players to wear the number 42 just for that day to commemorate Robinson. The gesture was the idea of Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr., who first sought Rachel Robinson's permission, and, after receiving it, asked Commissioner Bud Selig for permission. Selig extended the invitation to all major league teams.[39] Ultimately, more than 200 players wore number 42, including the entire rosters of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates.[40]
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Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. His mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised Jackie and her four other children. They were the only black family on their block, and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. From this humble beginning would grow the first baseball player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier that segregated the sport for more than 50 years.
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Commissioned by the Baseball Reliquary, this icon depicts Jackie Robinson, who in 1947 became the first black man to play major league baseball in the 20th century. Until his death in 1972, Robinson, along with Martin Luther King, Jr., was committed to the campaign for nonviolent resistance against racial oppression and injustice in the United States.
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Jackie broke the color line in Major League Baseball when he became a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He had to endure many racial insults and slurs during those first years and the St. Louis Cardinals actually threatened to go on strike and not play against the Dodgers, if Jackie was allowed to play.
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HONORING A BASEBALL GREAT: On April 14, 1997, the Interborough Parkway was renamed after Jackie Robinson to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. From the New York State Senate archives:
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