More Than Just a Game

On a hot summer day in the summer of 1947 at a Dodgers game you are sitting behind home plate. Then your hear it over the speakers, “Up to bat number forty-two Jackie Robinson!” you’re now on the edge of your seat waiting to see what he will do. He swings and misses and he swings and he misses. This is it, one more strike and he’s out and that’s when you hear the crack of the wooden bat hitting the ball. The color section of the stadium goes up in a roar, while the white section boos and shouts racial slurs. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the MLB and unfortunately racial slurs were only the start of the obstacles Jackie faced in his baseball career. Jackie Robinson changed many lives using his baseball career to advocate for civil rights.

Robinson was fearless, bold, and courageous, which was what it was going to take to desegregate baseball and be the first ever African American to join a major league baseball team. Soon after Robinson left the army he continued his athletic career, Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. Robinson’s stats were outstanding on his negro league team, which was one of the best in the whole league. Robinson wasn’t the best player in the negro league, but he was alcohol and drug free, engaged, a Methodist, an athlete, and opposed segregation. This was exactly what Mr. Rickey, the president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers wanted. Mr. Rickey had one goal, to desegregate Major League Baseball, and he was going to use Robinson to do it. After Robinson met with Mr. Rickey, “On October 23, 1945, it was announced to the world that Robinson had signed a contract to play baseball for the Montreal Royals of the International League, the top minor-league team in the Dodgers organization,” as stated online at sabr.org. There were two main reasons that they wouldn’t consider desegregating baseball. One there was no African Americans good enough to play professionally, and two people wouldn’t come pay to watch games if African Americans were playing. Robinson proved both of these reasons to be absurd. Robinson led the international team in a few different stats, and he was so good that he also raised attendance at many games. Jackie Robinson led the Montreal Royals to the Little World Series championship victory. Afterwards on the his way to his plane fans, “chased him for three blocks, prompting a journalist to observe, “It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of hate on its mind.” as stated online at sabr.org. Soon Robinson was on his way to training camp with the Dodgers and all things were looking well. Although, it turns out Robinson was not going to be very easily accepted on to the team. While at training camp, his own teammates started a petition to get him off of the team. Though Robinson’s own teammates despised, him he did not quit. Soon the petition was shut down, and over the course of training camp his teammates began to accept him. Now that his teammates accepted him, he just had to make the entire white major league baseball association to do the same. This was not easy, as Robinson began his season he received death threats against his wife and son as well as himself. He had pitchers throw at his head, players spike his leg, and entire crowds chant racists slurs while he was batting, but this did not keep him from playing the game. Robinson’s biggest challenge in all of this was not fighting back and holding his tongue. His worse incident included Ben Chapman the manager of the Phillies. Ben Chapman screamed and taunted Robinson. He even came out of the dugout onto to the field to try and make Robinson snap. But this didn’t work, instead Robinson stayed calm and people after the game were angered by Ben Chapman. For Chapman to keep his job he had to take a picture with Robinson, in a way showing that even he accepted him. This was exactly why Mr. Rickey choose Robinson because he knew it was going to take someone with thick skin to not quit. Robinson Risked his life playing baseball, but it wasn’t just for the game of baseball it was for a greater cause. The Civil Rights movement (sabr.org).

Jackie Robinson’s part in desegregating baseball led to him having a much bigger role in advocating for civil rights. Robinson traveled with the Dodgers an all white team, so this meant that he would eat and sleep where they ate and slept. This led to an issue at times with hotels and restaurants, but ultimately hotels and restaurants that oftentimes hosted the Dodgers had to desegregate. Which eventually led to other hotels desegregating as well. Also, Robinson was soon not the only African American baseball player in the MLB, and the same effects that Robinson had on the world were now being magnified by the other players as well. After Robinson’s baseball career ended he continued to make an impact. He joined the NAACP which stands for National Association of Advancement for Colored People. Robinson became good friends with other well known Civil Rights Movement leaders: Martin Luther KIng Jr. and Rosa Parks. Robinson took part in many Civil Rights Campaigns. He even marched by Martin Luther King Jr. himself. Robinson also gave money to many churches that had been torched or sometimes started fund raisers for towns that had been impacted by bombings. Robinson used his athletic platform during and after his baseball career to fight for civil rights affecting our country greatly (usatoday.com)(thirteen.org).

Jackie Robinson had a huge impact on helping to desegregate our country. What made Robinson a hero wasn’t that fact that he could steal home plate or jack home runs over the fence, that was easy for him. What made Jackie Robinson a hero was that he went out of his comfort zone and risked everything he had to fight for civil rights. From a young age and all through his career Robinson experienced true hate and what it was like to be an outsider, so he did everything he could to help others so they wouldn’t have to face the same heart breaking realities. Jackie Robinson may have been a baseball player, but to him it was so much more than a game.

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