Jackie Robinson Breaks the Barrier.

Jackie Robinson Breaks the Barrier. For most of the first half of the 20th century, black athletes were not allowed to play major league baseball. Instead, they competed against each other in the Negro Leagues. But in 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first to break the color barrier when he played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. . Robinson Breaks Barrier It was opening day of the 1947 baseball season. The Brooklyn Dodgers were facing the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers had a new first baseman. And major league baseball would never be the same. "History was made here Tuesday afternoon," wrote Wendell Smith, the respected black sportswriter who covered that game for the Pittsburgh Courier, "when smiling Jackie Robinson trotted out on the green-swept diamond with the rest of his Dodger teammates." The first black player in the major leagues, Robinson scored the winning run that day as the Dodgers defeated the Braves, 5-3. He went on to win the rookie of the year award, leading the National League (NL) in stolen bases as the Dodgers captured the pennant that season. He would have a celebrated career with the Dodgers, who won six pennants during Robinson's ten years with the club. But Robinson would never have broken baseball's color barrier had it not been for a meeting on August 28, 1945 with the man who signed him, destroying organized baseball's unwritten but long-standing ban on blacks: Dodger president Branch Rickey. Rickey had long planned to bring stars from the Negro Leagues into the Dodger organization, forming the phantom United States League as a cover for scouting and recruiting top black players. Settling on Robinson as the best candidate, Rickey called him in and harangued him with examples of the threats and abuse Robinson would face as the first black major leaguer. Robinson would have to take it, Rickey said, and he would have to accept it in silence. "Mr. Rickey," the startled Robinson asked, "do you want a ballplayer who's afraid to fight back?" "I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back!" Rickey thundered. Robinson assured Rickey that he could do it. Two months later he signed a contract to play for the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn farm club in the International League. Robinson, who was the first four-sport athlete at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), was familiar with facing challenges because of his race. As a second lieutenant during World War II, he was court-martialed for refusing to sit in the rear of a segregated military bus; he was found innocent and was awarded an honorable discharge in late 1944. He then coached basketball briefly at Samuel Houston College in Texas before beginning his career as a professional baseball player in 1945. Robinson signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League at the standard salary of $400 a month. At age 26, he was a powerful hitter--averaging .345 in 1945 with the Monarchs--and a sterling fielder. But it was his baserunning that changed games and terrorized pitchers. With his sprinter's speed and halfback's size, Robinson dominated the base paths, becoming known for his signature play--stealing home. By that time, the segregation of organized baseball had been the subject of heated debate for years. No written rules explicitly barred players of color from either the National League or American League, but an unofficial racial ban had been in effect since the 1880s. The achievements of track-and-field legend Jesse Owens and boxer Joe Louis were exploding notions of white supremacy. As early as 1938 Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith had predicted that black players would soon take their place in the major leagues. White sportswriters such as Shirley Povich of the Washington Post publicly advocated integration of the national pastime. The integration of the U.S. armed forces during World War II helped illustrate the irrationality of baseball's segregationist policies, as did the popularity of the Negro Leagues. The crowd of fans at the Negro Leagues' annual East-West Classic All-Star Game in 1944 outnumbered the major league All-Star Game 46,247 to 29,589. Another barrier to black players fell when baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, an adamant opponent of desegregation, died in office in 1944 and was replaced by A. B. "Happy" Chandler. Chandler was known to support integration, but it took Branch Rickey, who had built the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system into the finest in baseball before taking over the Dodgers in 1942, to open the door to a black player. Rickey scouted black players for several years without divulging his plans, even to his own employees. In 1945 he announced the formation of the all-black United States League, which would supposedly include his own new team, the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers. With the new league as a decoy, he began to actively seek out and recruit black players. Rickey understood that the first black major leaguer would need strength of character as well as athletic prowess. Jackie Robinson was hardly the most celebrated Negro League player of his time; that distinction went to Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson. But Robinson seemed to have the qualities Rickey sought: education, discipline, dignity, and steely determination. Rickey sent his scout, Clyde Sukeforth, to track down Robinson in Chicago, Illinois, with directions to "Bring him in!" Sukeforth succeeded, and Rickey met Robinson in his office in Brooklyn. Three hours later, Robinson agreed to sign with Montreal for $600 a month plus a $3500 signing bonus. The 1946 season, Robinson's only year in the minor leagues, was not without incident. An exhibition game in Jacksonville, Florida, was canceled when the local playground authority prohibited mixed-race competition on city-owned fields. Another Florida exhibition was canceled, ostensibly because the field's lights had to be repaired. Frank Shaughnessy, the president of the International League, warned Rickey that there would be riots in Baltimore, Maryland, if Robinson played there. But the riots didn't materialize. Robinson led the league in batting, stole 40 bases, and helped Montreal capture the Little World Series title. The next season he moved to first base and became a Brooklyn Dodger. During his rookie season, Robinson was subjected to every sort of insult, slur, and invective. Some spectators tossed black cats on the field when he appeared. A petition quietly circulated among major league players to organize a boycott in opposition to Robinson's playing in the league. One teammate, Dixie Walker, initially requested a trade to avoid having to play with a black man. Hearing rumors that the St. Louis Cardinals planned to strike on May 16, the date of their scheduled game against the Dodgers, National League president Ford Frick stepped in. "If you do this," Frick told the Cardinals, "you will be suspended from the league. You will find that the friends you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be outcasts. I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do will encounter quick retribution." As Rickey predicted, the more bigoted players expressed their indignation on the playing field. Future Hall of Fame member Enos "Country" Slaughter caused a wicked gash on Robinson's leg with his spikes-first slide into the bag. More than once Robinson found himself in the dirt after ducking a chin-high fastball. But he always got up, dusted himself off, and continued playing the game. He played for ten years, spending time at all the infield positions and in the outfield. In 1949 he hit .342 to win the NL batting title, led the league with 37 stolen bases, and captured the most valuable player award. In 1955, a year before retiring, Robinson played third base as the Dodgers finally defeated the New York Yankees to capture the World Series title. Once again a groundbreaker on behalf of his race, in 1962 Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.