America's favorite pastime. Nine innings, four bases, and one diamond. I’m of course talking about the intricate and sometimes boring sport of Baseball. If you don’t know the game, let me explain it a bit. Unlike most sports, a running clock doesn't confine the length of a ball game. The two contending teams play over a time of nice innings, which are subdivided into equal parts. As I said in the beginning, this may seem boring, but I find it fascinating. I love this sport and play it with passion. It’s just a group of friends that play because we love the sport. Life wasn’t the easiest for Jackie Robinson. He went through hell because he just wanted to play the game. But most importantly, while he went through all the hell. He stayed calm and peaceful to everyone which would put him in a lower class of citizen. If Jackie Robinson wasn’t signed to the Dodgers this sport wouldn’t be the same, nor any sport. He was the start of the integration of races in professional athletics and had a key involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, into a group of tenant farmers in Cairo, Georgia. He was the most youthful of five kids destined to Mallie and Jerry Robinson, after kin Edgar, Straight to the point, Matthew, and Willa Mae. His center name was to pay tribute to previous President Theodore Roosevelt, who passed on 25 days before Robinson was born. After Robinson's dad left the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California. The all-inclusive Robinson family settled itself on a private plot containing two little houses at 121 Pepper Road in Pasadena. Robinson's mom worked different random temp jobs to help the family. Experiencing childhood in relative neediness in a generally well-to-do network, Robinson and his minority companions were barred from numerous recreational opportunities. subsequently, Robinson joined a local pack, yet his companion Carl Anderson convinced him to surrender it. In 1935, Robinson moved on from Washington Middle School and enlisted at John Muir Secondary School, perceiving his athletic abilities. At Muir Tech, Robinson played a few games at the varsity level and lettered in four: football, track, and baseball. He played shortstop and catcher on the baseball crew, quarterback on the football crew, and gatekeeper on the b-ball group. With the Olympic-style sports squad, he won honors in the expansive bounce. He was additionally an individual from the tennis team. In 1936, Robinson won the lesser young men singles title in the yearly Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Competition and earned a spot on the Pomona yearly baseball competition top pick group, which included future Corridor of Famers Ted Williams and Weave Lemon. In late January 1937, the Pasadena Star-News paper revealed that Robinson 'for a long time has been the remarkable competitor at Muir, featuring in football, track, baseball, and tennis.'
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His Military Career
In 1942, in Fort Riley, Kansas, Robinson was mobilized and assigned to a separate cavalry unit of the Army. Robinson and several other black soldiers had the required qualifications to apply for admission to an Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Riley. Although the initial OCS guidelines for July 1941 of the Army were drafted as race-neutral, few black applicants were admitted into OCS until after subsequent Army leadership directives. As a result, Robinson's and his colleagues ' applications have been delayed for several months. Following protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and the assistance of Truman Gibson (then a civilian assistant). The men were admitted into OCS. The experience led to Robinson's friendship with Louis. Upon completion of OCS, Robinson was commissioned in January 1943 as a second lieutenant. Robinson and Isum were formally engaged shortly thereafter. Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas, after earning his commission, where he joined the 761st Tank Battalion 'Black Panthers.' Robinson often used his weekend leave at Fort Hood to visit Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in nearby Austin, Texas; Downs was Robinson's pastor at Scott United Methodist Church while Robinson attended PJC. Robinson was defeated by an incident on 6 July 1944, and Robinson's military career was ruined. While awaiting hospital test results on the ankle he had wounded at junior college, Robinson boarded an army bus with the wife of a fellow officer; although the Army had commissioned its unsegregated bus line, the bus driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus. Robinson declined. The driver backed up, but after reaching the end of the line, the military police were summoned and Robinson was taken into custody. When Robinson later confronted the officer and his assistant with the investigating duty officer about racist questioning, the officer recommended that Robinson be brought to court.
Paul L Bates, after the commander of Robinson in the 761st, refused to authorize the legal action Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion—Where the judge immediately decided to charge Robinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink By the time of the court-martial in August 1944, Robinson's charges had been reduced to two counts of insubordination during the investigation. An all-white panel of nine judges cleared Robinson. Robinson's experiences would be noted when he later joined MLB and was exposed to racist attacks during the court proceedings. While his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see action in World War II, Robinson's court-martial trials prevented him from being recognized when he later joined the MLB and was subjected to racist attacks. Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see fighting in World War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings forbade him from being deployed overseas, so he never saw any fighting action. He was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, after his acquittal, where he served as a military athletics coach until he received an honorable discharge in November 1944. Robinson met with a former Negro American League player for the Kansas City Monarchs, who encouraged Robinson to write the Monarchs and ask for an experiment. Robinson took advice from the former player and wrote to co-owner Thomas Baird of Monarchs.
The Kansas City Monarchs sent him a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues at the beginning of 1945, while Robinson was at Sam Huston College. Robinson accepted a $400 per month contract. Even though he played well for the Monarchs, the experience disappointed Robinson. He had grown used to an organized college play climate, and he was shocked by the disorganization of the Negro leagues and the embrace of gambling interests. The hectic travel schedule also placed a burden on his relationship with Islam, with whom he was now able to communicate only by letter.
The bases were stolen. In the East-West All-Star Game in 1945, he also played, going hitless in five at-bats. Robinson sought potential major interests in the league during the season. Since Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, no black man had played in the major leagues, but on April 16, the Boston Red Sox held a tryout for Robinson and other black players at Fenway Park. The tryout, however, was a farce primarily designed to assuage influential Boston City Councilman Isadore H. Y. Muchnick's desegregation sensitivities. Robinson was exposed to racial epithets even with the booths restricted to management. He left the court embarrassed, and in July 1959, the Red Sox, more than 14 years later became the last major league team to integrate its roster.
Nonetheless, other clubs were more interested in signing a black ballplayer. Branch Rickey, club president, and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers started to scout the Negro leagues in the mid-1940s for possible addition to the roster of the Dodgers. Rickey chose Robinson from a list of talented black players and interviewed him for potential assignment to Brooklyn's International League Farm Club, the Montreal Royals.88 Rickey was particularly interested in ensuring that his eventual sign would be able to withstand the inevitable racial abuse directed toward him. Rickey asked Robinson, in a famous three-hour conversation on 28 August 1945, if he could face the racial animus without taking the animus bait and reacting angrily— a concern given Robinson's previous arguments with PJC and military law enforcement officials. Robinson was angry: 'Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?' Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player 'with enough guts not to fight back.' After obtaining Robinson's commitment to 'turn the other cheek' to racial antagonism, Rickey agreed to 'turn the other cheek' to antagonism. While Robinson was required to keep the agreement a secret for the time being, before November 1, 1945, Rickey agreed to officially sign Robinson. It was publicly announced on October 23 that for the season of 1946 Robinson would be assigned to the Royals. Robinson formally signed his contract with the Royals on the same day, with representatives of the Royals and Dodgers present.98 In what was later called 'The Noble Experiment,' Robinson was the International League's first black baseball player since the 1880s. He was not necessarily the best player in the Negro leagues, and when Robinson was first picked, black stars were upset by Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. Larry Doby, who broke the color line in the American League the same year as Robinson said, 'One of the things that a lot of black players at the time were disappointing and disheartening was that Jack wasn't the best player. The best was Josh Gibson. I think that's one of the reasons why Josh died so early — he was heartbroken.' He signed with Chet Brewer's Kansas City Royals in the California Winter League that September, a postseason barnstorming team.
Minor leagues
Robinson arrived at Daytona Beach, Florida in 1946 for spring training with the Class AAA International League's Montreal Royals (the 'AAA' label was first used in the 1946 season for the highest level of minor league baseball). Clay Hopper, the Royals ' manager, asked Rickey to assign any other Dodger affiliate to Robinson, but Rickey refused.
The appearance of Robinson in racially charged Florida was controversial. He was not allowed to stay at the team hotel with his white teammates but instead stayed at the home of Joe and Dufferin Harris, a politically active African American couple who introduced the Robinsons to Mary McLeod Bethune, a civil rights activist. The Dodgers organization did not own a spring training facility (the Dodger-controlled spring training facility in Vero Beach known as the 'Dodgertown' was not open until spring 1948), and the scheduling was subject to the whims of localities, several of which refused any event involving Robinson or Johnny Wright, another black player Rickey had signed with the Dodgers organization in January. In Sanford, Florida, if Robinson and Wright did not stop training practices there, the police chief threatened to cancel games; as a result, Robinson was sent back to Daytona Beach. In Jacksonville, the stadium was shut down without warning on the day of the game, directly by the city's parks and public property director. A scheduled day game was postponed in DeLand, ostensibly due to problems with the electrical lighting of the stadium.
After much lobbying by Rickey himself from local officials, the Royals were allowed to host a game involving Robinson in Daytona Beach. Robinson made his Royals debut at the City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach on March 17, 1946, in an exhibition game against the parent club of the team, the Dodgers. Therefore, Robinson became the first black player to play freely against a major league team or a minor league team since the de facto baseball color line was established in the 1880s.
After some less-than-stellar performances in spring training, Robinson was moved from shortstop to second base, allowing him to make the first base shorter throws. The performance of Robinson soon bounced back. On April 18, 1946, Roosevelt Stadium hosted the Jersey City Giants' season opener against the Montreal Royals, marking the professional debut of the Royals' Jackie Robinson and the first time the color barrier had been broken in a game between two minor league clubs. Pitching against Robinson was Warren Sandel who played in California against him when they both stayed. The Jersey City catcher, Dick Bouknight, demanded that Sandel throws at Robinson during Robinson's first at-bat, but Sandel refused. While Sandel caused Robinson to ground out in his first bat, in his five trips to the plate, Robinson ended up with four hits; his first hit was a three-run home run in the third inning of the game. He also scored four runs, driving in three, and robbing two bases in the victory of the Royals 14-1. Robinson led the International League that season with a.349 batting average and a.985 fielding percentage and was voted Most Valuable Player of the League. Although he was sometimes aggressive While on road trips (for example, the Royals had to cancel the Southern Exhibition Tour), the Montreal fan base supported Robinson with enthusiasm. Whether fans supported it or opposed it, the presence of Robinson on the field was a boon to attend; in 1946, more than one million people went to games involving Robinson, an amazing figure by the standards of the International League. Robinson returned to California in the fall of 1946 after the baseball season and played professional basketball for the short-lived Los Angeles Red Devils for a short time.
In 1947, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues six days before the start of the season. With Eddie Stanky entrenched at second base for the Dodgers, Robinson played his initial major league season as a first baseman.89 On April 15, Robinson made his major league debut at the relatively advanced age of 28 at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. Although he failed to get a base hit, he walked and scored a run in the Dodgers' 5–3 victory. Robinson became the first player since 1884 to openly break the Major League baseball color line. Black fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro league teams.
Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspapers and white major league players. However, racial tension existed in the Dodger clubhouse. Some Dodger players insinuated they would sit out rather than play alongside Robinson. The brewing mutiny ended when Dodgers management took a stand for Robinson. Manager Leo Durocher informed the team, 'I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin' zebra. I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded.'
Robinson was also derided by opposing teams. According to a press report, the St. Louis Cardinals threatened to strike if Robinson played and to spread the walkout across the entire National League. The existence of the plot was said to have been leaked by the Cardinals' team physician, Robert Hyland, to a friend, the New York Herald Tribune's Rutherford 'Rud' Rennie. The reporter, concerned about protecting Hyland's anonymity and job, in turn, leaked it to his Tribune colleague and editor, Stanley Woodward, whose own subsequent reporting with other sources protected Hyland. The Woodward article made national headlines. After it was published, National League President Ford Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. 'You will find that the friends that you think you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be outcasts,' Frick was quoted as saying. 'I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do it will encounter quick retribution. All will be suspended and I don't care if it wrecks the National League for five years. This is the United States of America and one citizen has as much right to play as another.' Woodward's article received the E. P. Dutton Award in 1947 for Best Sports Reporting. The Cardinals players denied that they were planning to strike, and Woodward later told author Roger Kahn that Frick was his true source; writer Warren Corbett said that Frick's speech 'never happened'. Regardless, the report led to Robinson receiving increased support from the sports media. Even The Sporting News, a publication that had backed the color line, came out against the idea of a strike.
Robinson nonetheless became the target of rough physical play by opponents (particularly the Cardinals). At one time, he received a seven-inch gash in his leg from Enos Slaughter. On April 22, 1947, during a game between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players and manager Ben Chapman called Robinson racial slurs from their dugout and yelled that he should 'go back to the cotton fields'. Rickey later
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