The Black Panthers Minor League Baseball Team

Jackie Robinson's entry into the Major Leagues was far from a walk in the park. He climbed over countless obstacles just to play with white men, some of which, he was better then. He not only had to compete with the returning players from the war, but he also contended with racism. "Many towns in the South did not want racially mixed teams"(Weidhorn 53). As time went on, cities realized that Robinson offered them free publicity.

But soon after becoming the field manager, he became the general manager for the Dodgers. And that is where we meet Jackie Robinson. His road to become a professional baseball player was much more difficult. He grew up around many white families that would not let their children play with Jackie because of his skin color.

Even though there was a lot of racism, Jackie never let it overcome him. When the U.S. joined the World War II, Jackie put on another uniform. At war Jackie met another childhood idol in the black wrestler Joe Louis. After Jackie resigned from the army he decided to play baseball for the negro league. Jackie played for the Kansas City Monarchs. He got to play with some of the greats, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, and Josh Gibson. After his first year with the team Jackie led the team in hitting. One sportswriter was able to convince Jackie and 2 other black players to try out for the Boston Red Sox. Of course the Red Sox said no. Though the Red Sox owner said no, the Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey had interest in Jackie. In 1945 Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player when he signed with the Dodgers. He first though had to make it through the Minor League. He played for the Montreal Royals. He started second base for the team. He was able to lead the team to the Junior League World Series. He was also the MVP. In 1947, Jackie made it to the Major Leagues. In his first year Jackie was the Rookie of the Year. He helped lead the Dodgers to beat the Cardinals in the NL pennant. In 1949, Jackie Robinson won the MVP. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1955. His career only lasted 10 years. On January 5, 1957 Jackie Robinson retired. In 1962, he was

In his first game for a farm team of the Dodgers, he tore it up. He went four for five with a three run home run, and three singles. He also stole two bases and scored every time he got on base (Goldstein). This game brought him one step closer to bringing down the color barrier. Due to Jackie Robinson's amazing first season he was promoted to play in the major leagues as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was an amazing feat for an African American ,like Jackie, and it had shattered the barrier that separated blacks and whites in organized sports. Now Jackie Robinson hade made history becoming the first African American to play major league

After UCLA, Jackie was an athletic direct for a few months for the National Youth Administration in Atascadero, California. Robinson’s dream of playing professional sports pushed him to go to Hawaii in 1941 to join a semipro, racially integrated football team. They were called the Honolulu Bears. He worked as a construction worker for the during the week. On the weekends, he was a member of the team. He returned after the short football season to the United States, right after

Due to Robinson’s incredible athletic abilities, he was given the chance to join baseball’s Negro League. Here is the beginning of a historic legacy. After joining the Negro Leagues, Robinson was a popular name in the mouth of Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn

Before Jackie Robinson became the most famous African-American baseball player in the Major Leagues. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. In 1947 he was named Rookie of the Year, National League MVP and also was a World Series champion in 1955. Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. (“Jackie Robinson”). Jackie had played four sports at

He first had to play for the Royals, a minor league team, to see if he was good enough for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie certainly was good enough (Jackie Robinson,

Although the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson declared segregation to be legal as long as things were equal in 1896, baseball had already done this about ten years prior. There was a creation of the Negro League in the 1920s through the 1940s so that African Americans could have the same opportunities and white players even though they were not allowed on any of the major league teams. Jackie Robinson was a rookie player on the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League team, and being along side Satchel Paige, no one even noticed who he was. According to the reading in Jackie Robinson and Race in America by Thomas Zeiler, Satchel Paige was the first negro player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and he possibly believed to be one of the best pitchers of all time. Another comrade of Robinson’s during his time in the Negro League would be Josh Gibson, one of the greatest catchers and hitters of all time. The owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers,

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

The grandson of a slave, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia; he was the youngest of five children. Jackie grew up very poor, but little did he know that his athletic ability would open the doors for his future. After his father deserted the family when Jackie was six months old, his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to California in search of work. California also subjected blacks to segregation at that time, but to less of a degree than in the Deep South. The young Jackie defused his anger over this prejudice by immersing himself in sports. He displayed extraordinary athletic skills in high school, excelling at football, basketball, baseball, and track. After helping Pasadena Junior College

The first record of baseball in the United States began in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1791. Its popularity spread quickly through the town and the

In 1919, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. His family being sharecroppers, Jackie's mother, Mallie, raised Jackie and his four other siblings.(JackieRobinson.com) Being the only black family on the block, his family faced discrimination and racism from neighbors all around. From a humble beginning, Jackie was an outstanding athlete.(larrylester42.com) Jackie was promoted from Washington Junior High. Later, he entered John Muir High School after his junior high career. Recognizing his athletic ability, Robinson's older brothers inspired Jackie to pursue sports.(Jackierobinson.com)

Jackie was a phenomenal athlete for young kids to look up to. After the start of World War II he served in the military from 1942 to 1944. After the war he returned to his love for baseball, playing in the Black major leagues. He was chosen by Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn dodgers, to help integrate the Major Leagues. Rickey hated segregation just as much as Robinson and wanted to change things “Rickey had once seen a Black college player turned away from a hotel… Rickey never forgot seeing this player crying because he was denied a place to lay his weary head just because of the color of his skin” (Mackenzie). He was finally able to do something about segregation and help change baseball and the United States for the better. It wasn’t that all the teams were racist and didn’t want a black player but when the major league teams had an away game they would rent out the stadium to the black teams for them to play at. And the executives of teams didn’t want to loose the money that they were making off of the black teams. “League owners would lose significant rental revenue” (“Breaking”). He soon signed with the all-white Montreal Royals a farm team for the Dodgers. Robinson had an outstanding start with the Royals, “leading the International League with a .349 batting average and .985 fielding percentage” (Robinson). After Robinson’s outstanding year he was promoted to the Dodgers he played his first game on

In July 1949, he testified on discrimination before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1952, he publicly called out the Yankees as a racist organization for not having broken the color barrier five years after he began playing with the Dodgers.” He was very active in social activism for blacks rights. His biggest focus was impacting others