Jackie Robinson | Biography, Statistics, Number, Facts, & Legacy

Breaking the color barrier

Upon leaving the army, Robinson played professional baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, where he drew the attention of the president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey. Rickey had been planning an attempt to integrate baseball and was looking for the right candidate. Robinson’s skills on the field, his integrity, and his conservative family-oriented lifestyle all appealed greatly to Rickey. Rickey’s main fear concerning Robinson was that he would be unable to withstand racist abuse without responding in a way that would hurt integration’s chances for success. During a legendary meeting, Rickey shouted insults at Robinson, trying to be certain that Robinson could accept taunts without incident. On October 23, 1945, Rickey signed Robinson to play on a Dodgers farm team, the Montreal Royals of the International League.

Robinson led that league in batting average in 1946 and was brought up to play for Brooklyn in 1947. He was an immediate success on the field. Leading the National League (NL) in stolen bases, he received MLB’s inaugural Rookie of the Year award. In 1949 he won the batting championship with a .342 average and was voted the NL’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).

His personal experiences were quite different. Fans hurled bottles and invectives at him. Some Dodger teammates openly protested against having to play with an African American, while players on opposing teams deliberately pitched balls at Robinson’s head and spiked him with their cleats in deliberately rough slides into bases. But not everyone in baseball was unsupportive of Robinson. In 1947 rumors circulated that players on the St. Louis Cardinals were threatening to strike if Robinson took the field. After Cardinals owner Sam Breadon discussed the rumors with NL President Ford Frick, Breadon met with the Cardinals’ team leaders, who assured him that the threat of a strike was merely idle talk and grumbling from a few players. When fan heckling of Robinson became intolerable, Dodger captain Pee Wee Reese left his position on the field and put an arm around Robinson in a show of solidarity, and the two men became lifelong friends. However, with the ugly remarks, death threats, and Jim Crow laws that forbade a Black player to stay in hotels or eat in restaurants with the rest of his team, Robinson’s groundbreaking experience in the major leagues was bleak. Of this period Robinson later stated:

Access for the whole family! Bundle Britannica Premium and Kids for the ultimate resource destination. Subscribe

Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.

His career in baseball was stellar. His lifetime batting average was .311, and he led the Dodgers to six league championships and one World Series victory. As a base runner, Robinson unnerved opposing pitchers and terrorized infielders who had to try to prevent him from stealing bases.