Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson
was the first African-American to play in baseball’s
major leagues. Jackie Robinson was born on
January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia, the youngest
of five children. Jackie’s father was a sharecropper. Most
of his crops went to the landlord. In 1920,
Jackie’s father deserted his family. Soon
after, Jackie’s family moved to the suburban
area of Pasadena, California. Jackie’s
mother found a job washing and ironing people’s
clothes. Eventually, Jackie’s family
was able to rent a house. For most of his childhood,
Jackie’s family suffered from bigotry. Since
Jackie’s mother worked for a long time every
day, he joined the Pepper Street Gang. When
golf balls were hit off the golf course, the Pepper
Street Gang would gather all of the golf balls and
sell them. They did the exact same thing with baseballs
that were hit over the outfield fences. The
gang also stole fruit from stands and threw it at
cars. A kind shop merchant named Carl Anderson
told Jackie that he would get into lots of trouble
if he continued to be a member of the gang. The
next day Jackie quit the gang.
After Jackie
completed school at Dakota Junior High School, he
attended Muir Technical High School where he played
on the baseball, track, football, and basketball
teams. Jackie
still had to deal with daily insults and bigotry, but the insults actually inspired
Jackie to do better. Jackie’s brother was also a good athlete. During
the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Mack Robinson won the silver medal in the 2,000
meter race. That year Jesse Owens won the gold in that event.
In 1935, Jackie
enrolled at Pasadena Junior College where he played
as quarterback on the football team. In the spring of 1938, many senior colleges offered athletic scholarships
to Jackie. Jackie chose to go to the University of California (UCLA). Soon
after he enrolled, Jackie’s older brother Frank died in a motorcycle accident. Jackie
was very heartbroken. Even though he was sad, he was able to showcase his
basketball, football, baseball and track skills at UCLA. He lettered in four
sports there. After college, he traveled to Hawaii where he played on the
Honolulu Bears football team. After he left Hawaii, the Japanese bombed
Pearl Harbor and the USA officially declared war on Japan. Jackie was drafted
into the army.
In the army,
Jackie was assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas for basic
training. After he
passed basic training, he applied for Officer Candidate School. While going
to Officer Candidate School, Jackie rose to the rank of lieutenant. He
was then assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. At one point at Fort Hood, Jackie
was asked to move to the back of the bus he was riding. He refused to move to
the back of the bus and he was arrested. He had a military trial. Jackie
was unfairly punished and he was discharged from the army.
After he left
the army in April 1945, Jackie joined the Kansas
City Monarchs Negro League baseball team. Jackie was expected to be the most important player on the team. But
as time passed, Jackie wasn’t happy anymore. Every day, he felt very
mad at the way he and his teammates were being treated. A man named Branch
Rickey was sending scouts to find a great black player to play for the Brooklyn
Dodgers. Jackie was the black player they chose. Branch Rickey asked
him if he was the player “who had enough courage not to fight back.”
In 1946, Jackie
Robinson married Rachel Isum. Soon thereafter, he joined the Brooklyn Dodger
farm club called the Montreal Royals for the 1946 baseball season. At the
beginning of his time there, he did not do well because of a sore arm. But
he did great later. Jackie was great at playing short stop with the Montreal
Royals (Jackie went on to play second base later in his career). Even white
people started to love Jackie Robinson. Jackie became a father for the
first time in 1947 (he would go on to have two other children later).
Jackie Robinson
joined the Dodgers in 1947. Lots of people who disliked
black people were very angered about this fact. He
received a letter that said he and his wife would
be shot if he ever played for the Dodgers. Many teams did not want Jackie
to play on the Dodgers. When Jackie played his first major league baseball
game against the Boston Braves, fellow teammate Pee Wee Reese helped Jackie out
by providing support and friendship. At the end of the 1947 season, Jackie
had batted .297, was in the lead with 29 stolen bases, and scored 125 runs. The
Dodgers also won the National League. In 1947, Jackie won the “Rookie
of the Year” award. In 1949, Jackie was the National League Most
Valuable Player. In 1956, Robinson was traded to the New York Giants but
he decided to retire from baseball and never played there. Jackie was inducted
into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He was the first black baseball
player inducted.
Jackie Robinson
died of a heart attack on October 24, 1972. He will always be remembered
for being the first black American baseball player in the major leagues. He
broke lots of barriers during his life and made it easier for other black Americans
to follow him into the major leagues. He is an American hero because of
his courage and strength.
Bibliography
- Weidhorn, M., (1993) Jackie Robinson, Macmillan
Publishing Company.
- Shorto, R. (1991) Jackie Robinson and the
Breaking of the Color Barrier, The Millbrook
Press.
- Reiser, H. (1992) Jackie Robinson, Franklin
Watts Publishing.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_robinson
http://www.jackierobinson.com/
