Gurriel's Argumentative Essay

The Negro Leagues were one of the most important and influential movements to happen in baseball history. Without these ‘Invisible Men’, who knows where baseball’s racial standpoint with not only African American’s, but others such as Cuban, Dominican, and South American players, would be in the Major Leagues. Throughout the book, one pressing theme stays from beginning to end: Segregation.

Baseball has always been more than just a sport to the American people. For many, it is a way of life, teaching not just brute skills but life lessons and morals. In the wake of World War I, racism and bigotry abounded in the United States. Even though the integration of schools had recently been instated, Jim Crow laws severely limited the activity of African Americans in society, resulting in baseball teams being limited to whites. Jackie Robinson made an important step in gaining rights for African Americans when he broke the color barrier of baseball in 1947. He did this by making civil rights his ambition even before the protests began (Coombs 117). Jackie Robinson’s fame as a baseball player and determination to defeat adversity

He “became the university's first student to win varsity letters in four sports” (biography.com) but sadly he had to withdraw from the school because of a financial burden. He then went to Hawaii where he had played in a championship for football but later decided he wasnt for it anymore, he really wanted baseball. We all have that one thing that helps us get our mind off things and makes us more relaxed, that was his thing. As a result he kept on practicing and practicing on his free time and eventually got recognized. It turns out that the Brooklyn Dodgers, a professional mlb team wanted him to be apart of the experience. He had started to play and at first a lot of the players were sceptical on how good he really was until they saw him play, then they took him in as if he was just another one of them. He was succeeding so much him and another one of his teammates had traveled and “received several threatening letters in the two weeks leading up to the Atlanta exhibition game”(Hillstrom 55). He was starting to be recognized not for being the player that was a different skin color than everyone else, but an amazing baseball player. He had made it so that the other teammates would finally realize that being another race doesnt make u and worse or better than other races. Robbie started speaking out loud to crowds about how there needs to be some change with

In the early to mid-1900s, the races in America were characterized by legal segregation because of lingering racism in America. Jackie Robinson worked his entire career not only to become one of the greatest Major League Baseball players, but also to break the color barrier in baseball. Players, coaches, and managers made a “rule” in 1884 that no African-American man could play baseball on a white team (Graf 2). Despite this decision, Branch Rickey (2) decided there needed to be a change and offered Robinson a contract with the LA Dodgers. Robinson questioned himself and questioned why Ricky chose him to break the color barrier. Rickey stated, “Robinson, I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back” (Brown 3).

The Negro League players were the best at entertaining the crowd. They would impress the audience by playing an upbeat, fast, and daring game. Players often stole bases on risky terms, but successfully stealing a base meant a roar from the crowd. Negro League players were also often known to talk a lot on the field. The batters would try to make the pitchers nervous by using intimidating talk. The silly phrases such as “we want a pitcher, not a belly itcher” was

The Dodgers were playing the Philadelphia Phillies and Robinson was up at bat. Ben Chapman, the manager of the Phillies begun to direct racial slurs towards him as his verbal cues were filled with dislike, and hate. He labelled Robinson because of his skin color and told him that baseball was a white man’s game and will continue to be like that in the coming years. Chapman’s overall goal was to provoke an outburst from Robinson, but fortunately, Robinson was able to stay level headed and block out the negativity. An individual that continuously receives verbal abuse, and is able to control his/her temper is an outstandingly, strong individual,

When Robinson was selected to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, by the “General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey” (McBirney 3), he knew it was going to be a bumpy ride. Attempting to break the “color barrier” or let alone play for the Major League takes courage. Despite his fame and how he played on the field, Robinson received “explicit and persuasive death threats” (Scott 2). He also took racism within the stands and even “faced discrimination from a few of his own team members, who threatened to sit out games if he was allowed to play” (McBirney 5). During the games he got things thrown at him like trash, tomatoes, rocks, watermelon slices, and Sambo dolls. But Robinson still showed his courage to continue

Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were very determined to stick with the game they loved and to make a change. Thanks to their performance both on and off the ball field, “other owners began to seek talented black players, and by 1952, there were 150 black players in organized baseball” (Branch). Their “actions had repercussions far beyond the sports world” (Jim). The integration of baseball was an enormous smack in the face to all of segregation. Many racial barriers quickly tumbled down with the integration of baseball; restaurants, hotels, and stores removed their “white only” signs bringing blacks and whites together. Robinson and Doby could not have won the battle against segregation on their own, the press helped to make their struggle to be known throughout the country.

Hank Aaron impacted racism through helping pave the way for dark skinned athletes play sports. The Milwaukee Braves office would get roughly 3000 letters a day for Hank and many were death threats. While he didn’t try to make the situation worse he also refused to keep quiet. Aaron stated, “On the field, blacks have been able to be super giants,” he once said. “But once our playing days are over, this is the end of it and we go back to the back of the bus”(“Hank Aaron”). What he is saying is that on the field

The last time that the color line was openly broken in Major League Baseball was in 1880. This was a huge deal. African American fans would start attending Dodger games just to see Jackie play. As amazing as it was to finally have an African American playing in Major League Baseball, there was a lot of racial criticism that came along with it. Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson chose to play in Major League Baseball while it was still segregated. “Branch Rickey agreed, but everyone knew that the first Black to break through the color barrier would not only have to be talented enough to play in the majors but strong enough to withstand with dignity the inevitable racial taunts that would be hurled his way. Jackie Robinson was their man.” (Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball's Color Barrier, 1945 , 1). In other words this quote is saying that Jackie would have to be really strong to ignore the insults. Playing baseball in the Major Leagues would go against what a lot people knew, and a lot of these people would not tolerate him playing. He had to make a really hard choice not knowing how it would end up. He tried to change the way people saw colored people. He decided to play in Major League Baseball, which was practically a white baseball league. Jackie’s choice effected many people and had a significant outcome on civil

When Jackie was invited to go to the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league team, those were his worst days. That was where all the racism and hatred was for Jackie. When he stepped onto the field, just for his first game, everyone was booing and cussing at him. They wrote notes and letters to him saying that he does not belong on the baseball field. That because he was a black, he should not be able to play and he should go back to the Negro Leagues. We all know he hated having all that for doing nothing. Jackie never did anything to the white people, but the while men and women were very mean and rude for no reason! When Jackie broke the color barrier for Major League on April 15, 1947, baseball changed forever. Now in baseball, as usual, everyone was booing Jackie when he stepped onto the field. He had to deal with all of it. His teammates were very good with him and so was the coach and team manager. Now the fans were and even hotel managers were not. When they were going to a playoff game against the Cincinnati Reds, the hotel manager would not let the whole team stay just because Jackie was black. That's how bad it all was. White men were mean and rude for no

Baseball superstar, Jackie Robinson, was the first black man to play on a major league baseball team. Based on Jackie’s experiences, however, he stated that he “Never Had it Made.” This was because he was segregated, isolated, and harrassed by the other teammates. For example, he stated that he was “heckled… with childish remarks and gestures that coincided with the threats that had been made” (Paragraph 1). This quote supports the fact that he was harassed by others. Another example is when he stated that “some of those grown men sat in the dugout and pointed bats at me and made machine-gun like noises” (Paragraph 1). This shows that the roommates were “an incredibly childish display of bad will” (Paragraph 1). Jackie Robinson stated these

Jackie Robinson and the women’s baseball team both found their own types of discrimination. Robinson, an African-American in the 1940’s, faced terrible racism. Racism is defined as “poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). He was assaulted verbally with words such as “coon” and “monkey”, which are derogatory words to how Caucasian people see

The reason why I said it seems to change, is because now it's a question on color. People treat you different depend on where you from. I want to treat everyone with the same respect , treat them in the same sac, Which is why I want to talk to you about my assistant manager George Gonzalez.