The Dodgers Change The Color Barriers In Baseball

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

Jackie Robinson was an African-American who played for a “Negro League” for a team call the Kansas City Monarchs. Their team colors being white with thin red stripes going vertically down the uniform. But a manager from the MLB’s jaw dropped to the floor when he saw how great of a player Jackie was, and decided to do something that nobody ever thought would happen. “I had never seen a ball player,” stated the Dodgers manager. “quite like Jackie Robinson.” He drafted Jackie Robinson in to the MLB for a team called the Brooklyn Dodgers, but just because something good happens, doesn’t mean that there will a few obstacles along the way.

Since 1839, baseball was a white man’s game. That would all change when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942. This would be a major victory for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Before Robinson entered the league, African Americans played in the National Negro League and Whites played in the MLB(Major League Baseball). At this time in history blacks were still fighting for equality every single day. They were segregated by going to different schools than whites, drinking from different water fountains than whites, sitting in the back of the bus, etc. Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player in a white league and one of the greatest athletes of all time. He was able to achieve this despite

The game of baseball evolved immensely during the 1900’s. There were new rules and rule changes, new teams in new states, and then there was Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was a true legend from the day he was born in 1919. Baseball had it all in the first half of the 1900’s, fans filled the stadiums day after day, even during the war times. There was a big-name player on almost every team, children and adults admired these professional baseball players. The only thing professional baseball didn’t have during these times were African American players. Learning about the hardships that he had to overcome as a young boy, and the accomplishments he made from his college days at UCLA, to becoming the first African American professional baseball player, Jackie made it known that he was an American hero.

First of all, Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player in the major leagues, setting an example so others could follow, integrating baseball forever. When he joined the major leagues, he “smashed the unwritten law that kept blacks out of the big leagues.”(Robinson) When he joined the Dodgers, he faced verbal and physical threats, angry and racist fans. Even with all these people hating him, he worked hard to be the best player he could be, not another NLB player. Robinson later said that Mr.Ricky “Chosen me as the person to lead the way.” When Jackie heard this, he responded by ignoring the bad things and focusing on the good things and people who gave him support.”I had become the first black player in the major leagues.”(Robinson) This shows that Jackie

     "Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.

As baseball grew, so did the African American ambitions to play against other white teams. Moses “Fleetwood” Walker,

Negro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and “Jim Crow” laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. Even today they are still being recognized and honored for their wonderful contribution to baseball as a whole. It started when major league owners had made a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep blacks from playing in the game. The barrier that went up was finally broken with a few black players being signed into white teams in the 1940s. It was once said by Martin Luther King Jr., “[Segregation] gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, it gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” While that is true of

The story of Jackie Robinson has become one of America's most iconic and inspiring stories. Since 1947, American history has portrayed Jackie Robinson as a hero, and he has been idolized as a role model to the African American baseball community. It is an unarguable fact that he was the first to tear down the color barriers within professional baseball. The topic of Robinson’s role in integration has long been a point of discussion amongst baseball historians. Researchers have accumulated thousands of accredited documents and interviews with friends and team mates such as short stop, Pee Wee Reese, and team owner, Branch Rickey. However, few journalists have asked why Robinson was selected and what was Branch

When asked to describe a baseball the first word generally voiced is white, and before April 15, 1947 that is exactly what the game of baseball was, white. “There is no law against Negroes playing with white teams, or whites with colored clubs, but neither has invited the other for the obvious reason they prefer to draw their talent from their own ranks” (‘42’). These were the feelings of people living in 1947, that blacks and whites were not meant to play baseball together. Then, why decades earlier, had there been an African American in the league? In 1887, an African American Pitcher, George Stovey, was expected to pitch a game with Chicago, however, the first baseman, Cap Anson, would not play as long as Stovey was on the field. Other

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

Since the abolition of slavery in the USA in 1883 and through the first half of the 20th Century, African Americans had been in a constant struggle to try and gain an equal footing in society. Like many aspects of American life, black sportsmen were segregated, and no African American had played professional baseball since 1884. For this reason, the integration of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American to play Major League baseball in the modern era had a grand impact on the entire country. From the moment that Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey decided that Robinson would break the colour lone, the history of sport and the history of African Americans would not be the same again. The importance of his integration and the effect it had on civil rights can be looked at in many different ways. It had great effect on the African American community, instilling pride and belief once again in the American Dream for many who had once thought it impossible. It also had significant importance for civil rights groups, and brought about a figure who would fight his peoples quest for equal rights until the day he died. It was a significant risk taken by both Rickey and Robinson, professionally and personally. But it was a risk that both in the short term for African American sport, and in the long run for African American civil rights, was ultimately well worth taking.

The man who broke the color barrier, Jackie Robinson. Robinson was the first African-American to play in the MLB. Robinson overcame many obstacles in his career the main ones being racism and segregation. Robinson had a 10 year career with the Dodgers. Robinson became a civil rights activist being involved in the NAACP after his retirement from baseball. Jackie has received numerous awards not only for his physical abilities but for his impact he made on the world.

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on others”(Robinson). This is the standpoint Jackie Robinson had on life being a black person during his time period. He was a strong and courageous man despite the hardships that were set in his lifetime. He was faced with poverty, low income, and racial threats, but was granted with the gift of being a great athlete. Jackie Robinson being the first black MLB player had a great affect on American history because he helped boost morale, pushed toward civil rights, and integrated blacks into white sports.

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31st 1919. In 1947, at the age of 28, Jackie became the first African American to break the “color line” of Major League Baseball when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his tenure with the Dodgers, Jackie was not simply an average player. Among various other accolades, Mr. Robinson was a starter on six World Series teams as well as being named the National League Rookie of The Year in 1947. His advantageous career was then capped in 1962 when he was inducted in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.1 Contrary to popular belief, Jackie's perseverance in implementing racial integration extended beyond his career in Major League Baseball. During the Sixties Jackie Robinson was a