HSS 2020
December 2, 2014
Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Barrier
April 15, 1947, opening day at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. Many people crowd to the field to see one man, the first black person to ever play in major league baseball. He is setting new standards for all blacks past, present, and future. His name is Jack Roosevelt Robinson.
At this time it was unheard of to have a black person treated equally to a white person, even more unlikely to have a black person play on the same field as a white. But, for one man who stands alone, it was Jackie Robinson’s conquest to break through the color barrier with the help of Branch Rickey, who has set new standards for all black athletes to come.
Jackie Robinson grew up in …show more content…
Things kept getting better and better for Jackie, the pitches at his head when he was up to bat had stopped, most of the racial slurs had stopped, and Jackie was finally being treated like a real baseball player, not like a black person. Jackie lead the league in steals, ranked second in runs scored, and won the Rookie of the Year Award, which was later renamed the Jackie Robinson Award. That year Jackie also led his team to a World Series appearance.
Nearly a year after Jackie had first broke the segregation barrier many other teams were catching on. Rickey signed Roy Campanella, a star from the Negro Leagues. By this time almost every team had at least one black player on it. At this time most fans had come to judge a player by its ability not the color the color of their skin. (Shorto, Russell p. 22-24). Jackie was still fighting on and continued to still be a great player but now he was able to voice his opinion and act just like every other baseball player should without having such severe …show more content…
His legs weren’t as great as they used to be, and the weight of the bat felt so heavy in Jackie’s hands. That year, Walter O’Malley surprised Jackie, saying he was traded to the New York Giants, but Jackie came back saying he was retiring. Robinson’s retirement was controversial because it was shrouded in secrecy and politics, just like his signing in 1945. After that year the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to L.A. and for many people when Jackie retired they said that it was an end of a great era for baseball and it will never be forgotten. (David Falkner p. 249, Shorto, Russell p.