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Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Although not the first African-American professional baseball player in United States history, Robinson's 1947 Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately 60 years of baseball segregation, breaking the baseball color line, or color barrier. At that time in the United States, many white people believed that blacks and whites should be kept apart in many aspects of life, including sports.
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Quotations
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
Quoted on Jackie Robinson's Congressional Gold Medal
I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
Encyclopedia
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Although not the first African-American professional baseball player in United States history, Robinson's 1947 Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately 60 years of baseball segregation, breaking the baseball color line, or color barrier. At that time in the United States, many white people believed that blacks and whites should be kept apart in many aspects of life, including sports. Despite this obstacle, Robinson went on to have an exceptional baseball career.
Robinson played on six World Series teams and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He earned six consecutive All-Star Game nominations and won several awards during his career. In 1947, Jackie won The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award and the first MLB Rookie of the Year Award. Two years later, he won the National League MVP Award—the first black player to do so. On April 15, 1997, the 50-year anniversary of his debut, Major League Baseball retired Robinson's jersey number 42 across all MLB teams in recognition of his accomplishments in a ceremony at Shea Stadium.
He also had success away from the baseball field. Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball analyst and the first black vice president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped to establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American owned and controlled entity based in Harlem, New York. Due to his achievements, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1950, he played himself in the biographical film The Jackie Robinson Story. In 1946, Robinson married Rachel Annetta Isum, and after Robinson died of a heart attack in 1972, she founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
Early life
Robinson, the youngest of five children, was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 during a Spanish flu and smallpox epidemic. His older siblings include Edgar, Frank, Mack and Willa Mae. His middle name was in honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt, who had died 25 days before Robinson was born. The Robinsons were a family of sharecroppers, and after their father left them in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California. Raised by a single mother, Robinson grew up in relative poverty and joined a local neighborhood gang that his friend Carl Anderson eventually persuaded Robinson to abandon.
In 1935, Robinson graduated from Dakota Junior High School and enrolled in John Muir High School ("Muir Tech"). There he played on various Muir Tech sport teams, and lettered in four of them: football, basketball, track, and baseball. His older brother, Matthew Robinson, inspired Jackie to pursue his talent and love for athletics. Jackie played shortstop and catcher on the baseball team, quarterback on the football team, and guard on the basketball team. He was also a member of the tennis team and the track and field squad and won awards in the broad jump.
In 1936, Robinson won the junior boys' singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament, starred as a quarterback, and earned a place on the annual Pomona baseball tournament all-star team which included future Baseball Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bob Lemon. The next year he played for the high school's basketball team. That year the Pasadena Star-News newspaper reported on the young Robinson.
After leaving Muir, Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC), where he continued to excel in sports. He played basketball, football, and baseball. He played quarterback and safety for the football team, shortstop and leadoff batter for the baseball team, and participated in the broad jump. While at PJC, he was elected to the "Lancers,” a student-run police organization responsible for patrolling various school activities. However, on January 25, 1938, he was arrested for questionable reasons and sentenced to two years probation. In 1938, he was elected to the All-Southland Junior College (baseball) Team and selected as the region's Most Valuable Player. On February 4, 1939, he played his last basketball game at Pasadena Junior College. Thereupon Robinson was awarded a gold pin and was named to the school's "Order of the Mast and Dagger" (Omicron Mu Delta).
After leaving PJC in 1939, Robinson transferred to the nearby University of California, Los Angeles where he became the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. He was one of four African American players on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team, the others were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson starred on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team where they made up three of the four backfield players. This was a rarity—to have so many African Americans when only a few dozen at all played on college football teams. Ultimately, Robinson withdrew from UCLA in 1941 with one semester to go, to take a job with the government's National Youth Administration.
Robinson then briefly worked as an athletic director for the National Youth Administration before going to Honolulu that fall to play football for the semi-professional, racially integrated Honolulu Bears. The season was brief and he returned that December shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. The army drafted him the following year.
Military career
Drafted into the United States Army and assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, Robinson learned that white men with his level of education were allowed to go to Officer Candidate School, but blacks could not. Robinson had met heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis during basic training and he asked him for help. Louis talked to a friend in Washington, D.C. and the army then allowed Robinson and several other black men to train to become officers. Whether the army made the decision on its own or because of Louis' friend is not clear.
Robinson was commissioned a second lieutenant and re-assigned to Fort Hood, Texas where he joined the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. While waiting for the results of hospital tests on an injured ankle, he boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer's wife; although the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated bus line, the bus's driver (who apparently believed that Robinson's companion was white) ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus, away from his companion. Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but when he reached the end of the line he summoned the Military Police, who took Robinson into custody. When Robinson confronted the white officers who arrived on the scene to "investigate" his behavior (and the stenographer summoned to take his statement), the officers recommended that he be court-martialed. After Robinson's commander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action, Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion where the commander quickly consented to charge Robinson with insubordination, disturbing the peace, drunkenness, conduct unbecoming an officer, insulting a civilian woman, and refusing to obey the lawful orders of a superior officer.
By the time of the court-martial in August 1944, the charges had been reduced to include only Robinson's alleged insubordination during questioning; the actual incident on the bus that had inaugurated the episode was not mentioned in the charges or at the trial. Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers. He was transferred again, to Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics until he received an honorable discharge in November 1944. Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, eventually become the first black tank unit to see combat, Robinson never saw combat action during World War II.
Baseball career
Robinson's Major League debut ended approximately sixty years of baseball segregation, also known as the baseball color line. His career started at the advanced age of 28 so he only played 10 seasons; all of them for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career, the Dodgers played in six World Series and Jackie played in six All-Star games. He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a member of the All-Century Team. Robinson scored more than 100 runs in six of his ten seasons and had a .311 career batting average, a .409 career on-base percentage, and substantially more walks (740) than strikeouts (291). Robinson led the league in fielding in 1948, 1950 and 1951. He stole home 19 times in his career; one of the most difficult feats in baseball, and none of them were double steals. A double steal is when a player on first steals second at the same time as the player on third steals home and is the only way that current players will attempt to steal home.
Although Jackie played every game of his rookie season at first base, Robinson spent most of his career as a second baseman. In his first seven seasons, from 1947 to 1953, Robinson averaged over 110 runs. During his career from 1947 to 1956, Robinson was one of two players with 125 steals and a slugging percentage over .425. He had 197 steals and a .474 slugging percentage. Minnie Miñoso was the other player; he compiled 127 steals and a .479 percentage.
Oakland Tribune sportswriter Dave Newhouse polled 68 experts in order to create an all-time baseball lineup. He chose Robinson for second base despite the fact that Joe Morgan had the best numbers. He also considered Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Frankie Frisch and Roberto Alomar for the spot. He chose Robinson because in his opinion Jackie had the most character and was the best second basemen at running the bases and disrupting the offense. Recent statistical analysis has also indicated that Robinson was an outstanding defensive player throughout his career. Assessing himself, Robinson said "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me ... all I ask is that you respect me as a human being."
1947–Breaking the color barrier
In 1945, Robinson joined the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs, unhappily barnstorming the country with them. Jackie had grown used to a structured playing environment in college, and the Negro League's inconsistent play and scheduling appalled him. During this period, Branch Rickey was club president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers began to scout Robinson, who had joined the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 after his discharge from the Army. He played shortstop and had a batting average of .387. Rickey eventually selected him from a list of promising African-American players and assigned him to the Montreal Royals (the Brooklyn Dodgers' Triple-A farm club) as a prelude to bringing him to the Dodgers. Rickey wanted a man who could restrain himself from responding to the ugliness of the racial hatred that was certain to come. Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial animus and not take the bait and react angrily. Robinson was aghast: "Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?" Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player "with guts enough not to fight back."
In 1946, Robinson came to Daytona Beach, Florida for spring training with the Montreal Royals. He was banned from playing in Jacksonville and Sanford, but not in Daytona. He played his first integrated game for a team in Organized Ball on March 17, 1946. His first plate appearance came in an exhibition game against the Royals' parent club, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson thus became the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues since the baseball color line was implemented in 1889. Jackie proceeded to lead the International League with a .349 batting average and .985 fielding percentage. It was the first time an African-American had played Class AA baseball without being passed off as a Cuban, a Mexican, or an Indian. Montreal was forced to cancel a Southern exhibition tour, but in the first regular season game Robinson had four hits including a home run. Although away tours were emotionally taxing due to the virulent hostility he faced, Robinson played well for Montreal, where the local fans supported him as their summer hero with reassuring enthusiasm, and six days before the start of the 1947 season the Dodgers called him up. On April 15, 1947 he made his debut before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, 14,000 of whom were black. Although he didn't get a base hit, the Dodgers won 5–3. Robinson became the first player since 1887 to break the baseball color line. That winter he married Rachel Isum, his former UCLA classmate. The nation was initially divided on whether Robinson should be allowed to play. Virtually all blacks and many whites applauded the decision as long overdue, but a large number of whites also objected. Many major league players also objected. Most newspapers supported the move. Robinson's integration and subsequent high level of play was a major blow to segregation and caused racial barriers to fall in other areas. Robinson criticized hotels that did not allow him to stay with his teammates, and a number of hotels and restaurants that the Dodgers frequented integrated as a result.
During his first season with the Dodgers, Robinson encountered racism from fans and players, which included his own teammates. He anticipated that some pitchers would aim pitches at his head and that other players would try to hit, tackle, and even try to push him off the basepaths. Some Dodger players insinuated they would sit out rather than play alongside Robinson. The brewing mutiny ended when Dodger management took a stand for Robinson. Manager Leo Durocher informed the team, "I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin' 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." When other teams, notably the St. Louis Cardinals, threatened to strike if Robinson played, National League President Ford Frick let it be known that they would be suspended.
On April 22, 1947, during a game between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players called Jackie a "nigger" from their dugout and yelled that he should "go back to the cotton fields." Rickey would later recall that Phillies manager Ben Chapman "did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he poured out that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men."
In front of KeySpan Park there is a statue of Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Robinson. It commemorates a piece of baseball folklore: that in 1947 Reese put his arm around Robinson in response to fans who had shouted racial slurs at Robinson before a game in Cincinnati. This story stood for decades as a symbol of racial tolerance but later became a source of controversy. That Reese put his arm around Robinson is not in dispute, but it probably happened in 1948. Reese also once came to his friend's defense with the famous line "You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them."
Blacks were not the only minority discriminated against in baseball. Jewish baseball star Hank Greenberg also had to deal with racial epithets during his career. Greenberg and Robinson once collided at first base, and Greenberg whispered a few words into Robinson's ear. Asked by reporters what Greenberg said, Robinson replied "He gave me a few words of encouragement." Greenberg had advised him that the best way to combat the slurs from the opposing dugout was to beat them on the field. That year, he played in 151 games, hit .297, led the National League in stolen bases and won the first-ever Rookie of the Year Award. In the October 1948 issue of Sport magazine, Robinson said he did not expect to see baseball's color barrier fall in his lifetime. "I thought it would take another war," he said.
1948–1950 MVP and film biography
In 1948, Robinson moved to his natural position at second base and led the league in fielding. Robinson had a batting average of .296 and 22 stolen bases that year. He also hit for the cycle on August 29, 1948 against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 12–7 Dodger win; hitting a home run, a triple, a double, and a single. The Dodgers briefly moved into first place in the National League in late August 1948, but ultimately finished third as the Braves went on to win the league title and lose to the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.
The pressure on Robinson lessened in 1948 with a number of other black players now in the majors. Larry Doby and Satchel Paige played for the Cleveland Indians, and the Dodgers had three other black players besides Robinson. In February 1948 he signed a $12,500 contract with the Dodgers, which was less than he made in the off season from a Vaudeville tour, where he answered pre-set baseball questions, and a speaking tour of the South. Between the tours, he underwent a surgery on his right ankle. Due to his off-season activities, Robinson reported to training camp 30 pounds overweight. He lost the weight during training camp, but the dieting left him weak at the plate.
Robinson "exploded" in 1949, and won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League, leading the league with a .342 batting average and 37 stolen bases. That year a song about Jackie by Buddy Johnson, Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?, reached number 13 on the charts; Count Basie recorded a famous version. Ultimately, the Dodgers won the National League pennant but lost 4–1 to the New York Yankees in the World Series.
In the spring of 1949, Robinson turned to George Sisler for batting help. At Sisler's suggestion he spent hours at the batting tee learning to hit the ball to right field. Sisler had Jackie prepare for a fastball instead of a curveball based on his theory that it is easier to adjust to the slower curveball. "Sisler showed me how to stop lunging, how to check my swing until the last fraction of a second" Robinson said. He raised his batting average from .296 to .342 and was second in the league in doubles and triples.
Robinson led the National League in the most double plays made by a second baseman in 1950 with 133. By 1950 his salary was the highest amount paid to that point in Dodgers history: $35,000. His promised silence had also elapsed and by July 1949 Robinson was testifying against controversial statements made by the African American entertainer and activist Paul Robeson before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which pleased Americans worried about communism. The time became right for a film biography of his life, but two studios turned the project down when the film's promoters refused to include a white man teaching Robinson how to be a great player. In 1950, he appeared in a film biography, The Jackie Robinson Story in which he played himself. Actress Ruby Dee played Rachael "Rae" (Isum) Robinson. The New York Times wrote that Robinson was "doing that rare thing of playing himself in the picture's leading role, displays a calm assurance and composure that might be envied by many a Hollywood star." He finished the year with 99 runs, a .328 batting average, and 12 stolen bases.
Statement About Paul Robeson to HUAC
Jackie Robinson struggled with his decision to testify before The House Committee on Un-American Activities regarding the widely misquoted declaration made by the famous entertainer Paul Robeson that African Americans would not support the United States in a war with the Soviet Union due to their continued second-class citizen status under law following World War II. Technically, Robinson was not required to testify, but he knew there would be repercussions if he did not.
Paul Robeson had done previous service on behalf of Jackie Robinson's entry into professional baseball. At their annual meeting in December of 1943, Robeson had addressed the baseball owners. As both a former athlete and a leading man on stage, he assured them that integrating baseball would not cause violence but would in fact propel the country closer to its ideals.Robeson was the first black man to speak before the owners on the subject and afterward they gave him a round of applause. After the meeting commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis remarked that there was no rule on the books denying blacks entry into the league. Just over four years later Robinson made his 1947 major league baseball debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
During week of July 13th 1949, Robinson eventually agreed to testify fearing that it might negatively and permanently damage his career if he declined. It was a major media event with Robinson's carefully worded statement appearing on the front page of The New York Times the following day. Robinson said that Robeson “has a right to his personal views, and if he wants to sound silly when he expresses them in public, that is his business and not mine. He’s still a famous ex-athlete and a great singer and actor.” Robinson also stated that "the fact that it is a Communist who denounces injustice in the courts, police brutality, and lynching when it happens doesn't change the truth of his charges";racial discrimination in America was not "a creation of Communist imagination."
Neither immediately following his testimony nor at any time thereafter did Paul Robeson quarrel with or denigrate Jackie Robinson. He refused to be “drawn into any conflict dividing me from my brother victim of this terror.” Jackie Robinson never forgot the experience or what he perceived as Robeson's magnanimity. Near the end of his life Robinson wrote in his autobiography about the incident,
"However, in those days I had much more faith in the ultimate justice of the American white man than I have today. I would reject such an invitation if offered now…I have grown wiser and closer to the painful truths about America’s destructiveness. And I do have increased respect for Paul Robeson who, over the span of twenty years, sacrificed himself, his career, and the wealth and comfort he once enjoyed because, I believe, he was sincerely trying to help his people."
The reaction to Robinson's statement at the time in the white press was positive including an article by Eleanor Roosevelt in which she wrote, "Mr.Robeson does his people great harm in trying to line them up on the Communist side of political picture. Jackie Robinson helped them greatly by his forthright statements." Reaction in the Black press was mixed. The The New York Amsterdam News was supportive, saying that "Jackie Robinson had batted 1,000 percent in this game" but the Black newspaper 'New Age' remarked that "being Jim Crowed by Washington's infamous lily white hotels In 1963" Robinson had left the capital immediately after his testimony. and The Afro American Newspaper ran a disparaging cartoon depicting Jackie Robinson as a frightened little boy with a gun vainly attempting to "hunt" Robeson. In 1963, when Robinson criticized the Black Muslims, Malcolm X harshly alluded to Robinson's earlier and potentially damning testimony of Paul Robeson.
1951–1953 pennant race and magazine editor
In 1951 Robinson led the National League in the most double plays made by a second baseman for the second year in a row with 137. He single-handedly kept the Dodgers in the race for the 1951 pennant. During the final game of the regular season against Philadelphia he made a season-saving defensive play in the 12th inning and then hit a game-winning home run in the 14th inning. This forced a three-game playoff against the Giants. Despite Robinson's regular season heroics the Dodgers lost the pennant on Bobby Thomson's home run in the last at bat of Game 3 of the playoff on October 3, 1951. He stood with hands on hips and watched Thomson's feet in case he failed to touch all of the bases. Dodgers sportscaster Vin Scully felt that showed "how much of a competitor Robinson was". He finished the season with 106 runs, a batting average of .335, and 25 stolen bases.
Robinson had what was an average year for him in 1952. He finished the year with 104 runs, a .308 batting average, and 24 stolen bases. Also in 1952, Robinson accused the Yankees of prejudice and challenged Yankees general manager George Weiss to prove him wrong, making the statement on the television show Youth Wants to Know. Sportswriter Dick Young, whom Jackie had described as a "bigot", said, "If there is one flaw in Jackie, it was the common one. He believed that everything unpleasant that happened to him happened because of his blackness."
In 1953 Robinson had 109 runs, a .329 batting average, and 17 steals. He also served as the editor for Our Sports magazine. This short-lived periodical advertised its coverage of "famous Negro athletes in every field of endeavor" and "Negro athletes in your town among your own neighbors." Articles included "What White Big Leaguers Really Think of Negroes" and "My Toughest Fight," an article by boxer Joe Louis about golf course segregation.
1954–1956 championship and retirement
In 1954 Robinson had 62 runs, a .311 batting average, and seven steals. His best day at the plate was on June 17, when he hit two home runs and two doubles. He also succeeded in getting the five-star Chase Park Hotel in St. Louis integrated. He and Don Newcombe approached the hotel's manager and asked why blacks were not allowed. The manager said, "It's the swimming pool . . . a place where everybody socializes." Newcombe explained that they were ballplayers, not swimmers, and the manager relented. That season black players had their meals delivered to their rooms and were not allowed to use the Chase's dining room, but the next season the dining room was fully integrated.
Robinson then won his only championship when the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series, after what was ironically the worst year of his career. He hit .256 and stole only 12 bases in 1955. He was 37 years old, missed 49 games, and did not play in Game 7 of the World Series. Robinson missed the game because manager Walter Alston decided to play Jim Gilliam at second and Don Hoak at third base. His body had thickened and he had lost his speed. The Dodgers tried Robinson in the outfield and at third base, partly because of his diminishing abilities and partly because Gilliam, a black player, had staked a claim on second base. Also that season, Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe would be the first black pitcher to win 20 games in one year.
In 1956 Jackie had 61 runs, a .275 batting average, and 12 steals. After the 1956 season Robinson was traded by the Dodgers to the archrival New York Giants for Dick Littlefield and $35,000 cash. Although this is frequently cited as the reason for Robinson's retirement, the situation was more complicated. Before the trade he had already agreed with the president of Chock full o'Nuts to quit baseball and become a top executive with the company. This, and a disagreement between his friend Rickey and team owner Walter O'Malley, led to Robinson announcing his retirement through Look magazine instead of through the Dodgers.
Career batting statistics
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | TB | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
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| 1947 | Brooklyn | 151 | 590 | 125 | 175 | 31 | 5 | 12 | 48 | 29 | | 74 | 36 | .297 | .383 | .427 | 252 | 28 | | | 9 | 5 | | 1948 | Brooklyn | 147 | 574 | 108 | 170 | 38 | 8 | 12 | 85 | 22 | | 57 | 37 | .296 | .367 | .453 | 260 | 8 | | | 7 | 7 | | 1949 | Brooklyn | 156 | 593 | 122 | 203 | 38 | 12 | 16 | 124 | 37 | | 86 | 27 | .342 | .432 | .528 | 313 | 17 | | | 8 | 22 | | 1950 | Brooklyn | 144 | 518 | 99 | 170 | 39 | 4 | 14 | 81 | 12 | | 80 | 24 | .328 | .423 | .500 | 259 | 10 | | | 5 | 11 | | 1951 | Brooklyn | 153 | 548 | 106 | 185 | 33 | 7 | 19 | 88 | 25 | 8 | 79 | 27 | .338 | .429 | .527 | 289 | 6 | | | 9 | 10 | | 1952 | Brooklyn | 149 | 510 | 104 | 157 | 17 | 3 | 19 | 75 | 24 | 7 | 106 | 40 | .308 | .440 | .465 | 237 | 6 | | | 14 | 16 | | 1953 | Brooklyn | 136 | 484 | 109 | 159 | 34 | 7 | 12 | 95 | 17 | 4 | 74 | 30 | .329 | .425 | .502 | 243 | 9 | | | 7 | 12 | | 1954 | Brooklyn | 124 | 386 | 62 | 120 | 22 | 4 | 15 | 59 | 7 | 3 | 63 | 20 | .311 | .413 | .505 | 195 | 5 | 4 | | 7 | 13 | | 1955 | Brooklyn | 105 | 317 | 51 | 81 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 36 | 12 | 3 | 61 | 18 | .256 | .378 | .363 | 115 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 | | 1956 | Brooklyn | 117 | 357 | 61 | 98 | 15 | 2 | 10 | 43 | 12 | 5 | 60 | 32 | .275 | .382 | .412 | 147 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | | Totals | 10 yrs | 1382 | 4877 | 947 | 1518 | 273 | 54 | 137 | 734 | 197 | 30 | 740 | 291 | .311 | .409 | .474 | 2310 | 104 | 9 | 7 | 72 | 113 |
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Post-baseball life
Robinson retired from baseball on January 5, 1957. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility, and became the first African-American so honored. In 1965, Robinson served as an analyst for ABC's Major League Baseball Game of the Week telecasts, the first black person to do so. On June 4, 1972, the Dodgers retired his uniform number 42 alongside Roy Campanella (39) and Sandy Koufax (32). From 1957 to 1964 Robinson was the vice president for personnel at Chock full o'Nuts; he was the first black person to serve as vice president of a major American corporation. He chaired the NAACP's million-dollar Freedom Fund Drive in 1957, and served on their board until 1967. In 1964 he became one of six national directors for Nelson Rockefeller's Republican presidential campaign and later became special assistant for community affairs when Rockefeller was re-elected governor of New York in 1966. In 1970, Robinson established the Jackie Robinson Construction Company to build housing for families with low incomes.
Robinson made his final public appearance on October 14, 1972 before Game 2 of the World Series. He used this chance to express his wish for a black manager to be hired by a Major League Baseball team. This wish was granted two years later following the 1974 season when the Cleveland Indians gave their managerial post to Frank Robinson (no relation), a Hall of Fame bound player who later managed several other teams. Despite the success of these two Robinsons and other black players, as of 2007 the number of African-Americans in the major league has been on the decline for decades. This is due to an increased emphasis on the recruitment of players from Latin America.
Death
Robinson's body, which had served him well as an athlete, failed early. Heart disease complications and diabetes weakened him and made him almost blind by middle age. On October 24, 1972, he died of a heart attack at home in Stamford, Connecticut, aged 53. Jackie Robinson is interred at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. His grave is located about half a mile south of the Jackie Robinson Parkway, which bisects the cemetery.
Personal and Family Life
Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, has had a extremely successful career in the academic nursing field, including holding an Assistant Professorship at Yale School of Nursing and the position of Director of Nursing at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Robinson's eldest son Jackie, Jr. served in Vietnam, struggled with drug problems and was working as a Daytop Village counselor, died in an automobile accident in 1971. He died one year before his father. Robinson's daughter Sharon became a midwife, educator, a director of educational programming for Major League Baseball and author of a book about her father. Youngest son David became a Tanzanian coffee grower and social activist. He is a father of ten children.
Awards and recognition
Robinson's contributions have been recognized in a number of ways. He ranks highly in a number of polls and lists, has received several awards, and has had buildings and events named in his honor. According to a poll conducted in 1947, Robinson was the second most popular man in the country, behind Bing Crosby, and was the embodiement of "Black Pride" long before the popular movement. In 1999, he was named by Time magazine on its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Also in 1999, he ranked number 44 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team as the top vote getter for second basemen. Baseball writer Bill James, in the "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract", ranked Robinson as the 32nd greatest player of all time based strictly on his performance on the field, noting that he was one of the top players in the league throughout his career.
Major League Baseball has honored Robinson several times since his death. In 1987, the Rookie of the Year Award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in honor of its first winner. On April 15, 1997, Robinson's #42 was retired by Major League Baseball, which means that no future player on any major league team can wear it. The number was retired in ceremonies at Shea Stadium to mark the 50th anniversary of Robinson's first game with the Dodgers. A handful of players who wore #42 as a salute to Robinson, such as the Mets' Butch Huskey and Boston's Mo Vaughn, were allowed to continue to use the number. The Yankees' Mariano Rivera will be the last player in the major leagues to wear # 42.
Robinson has also been recognized outside of baseball. In December 1956 the NAACP recognized him with the Spingarn Medal, which it awards annually for the highest achievement by an African-American. President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Robinson the 1985 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and on October 29, 2003, the United States Congress posthumously awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award the Congress can bestow. Robinson's widow accepted the award in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on March 2, 2005. Robinson is only the second baseball player to receive the Congressional Gold Medal; Roberto Clemente is the other baseball player who has earned the medal. On August 20, 2007 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that he would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame on December 5, 2007, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento.
Robinson has had a number of buildings named in his honor. The UCLA Bruins baseball team plays in the Jackie Robinson Stadium. In addition, City Island Ballpark, the baseball field in Daytona Beach that became the Dodgers' de facto spring training site in 1947, was renamed Jackie Robinson Ballpark in his honor. The New York Public School system has named a middle school after Robinson, and Dorsey High School in Los Angeles named their football stadium after him.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Jackie Robinson on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
At the November 2006 ground-breaking for a new ballpark for the New York Mets, Citi Field (scheduled to open in 2009), it was announced that the main entrance, modeled on the one in Brooklyn's old Ebbets Field, will be called the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Additionally, Mets owner Fred Wilpon said that the club and Citigroup would work with the Jackie Robinson Foundation to create a Jackie Robinson Museum and Learning Center in lower Manhattan and would fund scholarships for "young people who live by and embody Jackie's ideals". In 1976, his home in Brooklyn, the Jackie Robinson House, was declared a National Historic Landmark.
Each year on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated, commemorating and honoring the day Robinson made his major league debut. Jackie Robinson Day was initiated in 2004 and has been celebrated every year since. 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. Ultimately, more than 200 players wore number 42, including the entire rosters of the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The tribute was continued in 2008, when, during the April 15 games, all members of the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays wore Robinson's # 42.
See also
External links
- Official Website
- Jackie Robinson Foundation Website
- Correspondences with the White House*
- Retrieved on 2008-03-19
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