Jackie Robinson

Lore & Background

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born into a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Georgia, the youngest of five children. After his father left in 1920, his mother moved the family to Pasadena, California, where they lived in relative poverty. Robinson attended John Muir Technical High School, lettering in four sports, and later Pasadena Junior College, where he broke a junior college broad-jump record. He then enrolled at UCLA, becoming the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track. While at UCLA, he met his future wife, Rachel Isum. He left college just shy of graduation and played semi-professional football in Honolulu before the United States entered World War II.

During World War II, Robinson was drafted but court-martialed for refusing to sit at the back of a segregated Army bus; he was honorably discharged. After the war, he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues, where he caught the attention of Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Rickey selected Robinson as the candidate to break MLB's color line. Robinson made his MLB debut on April 15, 1947, at first base for the Dodgers. Over his 10-year career, he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons (1949–1954), and won the National League MVP in 1949, the first Black player so honored. He played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 championship. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 in his first year of eligibility.

Reader's Guide

Jackie Robinson's significance extends beyond baseball. His character, use of nonviolence, and talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation that marked many aspects of American life, contributing significantly to the civil rights movement. He was the first Black television analyst in MLB and the first Black vice president of a major American corporation, Chock full o'Nuts. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, a Black American-owned financial institution in Harlem. After his death in 1972, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number, 42, across all Major League teams—the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored. In 2004, MLB established an annual Jackie Robinson Day on April 15, when every player wears number 42. His legacy as a pioneer who broke baseball's color line and as a figure in the broader struggle for racial equality remains enduring.

Did You Know?

• Robinson was better known for football than baseball at UCLA, becoming a star with the Bruins football team.
• He was court-martialed during World War II for refusing to sit at the back of a segregated Army bus.
• Robinson won the NCAA championship in the long jump in 1940.
• He was the first professional athlete in any sport to have his uniform number (42) retired across all teams in his league.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"The kid was great. He was the difference. The Yankees certainly didn't miss Joe DiMaggio out there in center field today—and won't as long as that guy's around." — Jackie Robinson "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." — Jackie Robinson "I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world." — Jackie Robinson "You can hate a man for many reasons, his color isn't one of them." — Jackie Robinson