On April 15, 1947, 60 years ago this Saturday, the game of baseball was forever changed for the better. On that day, Hall of Fame infielder and legendary groundbreaker Jack Roosevelt Robinson ran out onto the field at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, as the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. The fact that I wasn’t born until 30 years later or that when I was finally hatched that the Brooklyn Dodgers were already in their second decade as the Los Angeles Dodgers means very little to me in regards of how special April 15, 1947 is. Every year, I have that date marked on my calendar as one of the days that cannot be forgotten, along with my kids’ birthdays, wedding anniversary and national holidays. In fact, Jackie Robinson Day, as it is now known throughout professional and collegiate baseball, is a national holiday to me — a longtime baseball fanatic.
Born on Jan. 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia, Robinson would go on to become one of UCLA’s greatest athletes — track and field, baseball, basketball and especially in football — before becoming baseball’s conscious call. Plucked from the Negro Leagues by Dodger General Manager and hall of famer, in his own right, Branch Rickey, Robinson quickly made the majors and on April 15, 1947, proved a nation of doubters wrong about the African American athletes as an athlete and most importantly as a man. He could do the work, he could “cut it” under stress, he could “play with the big boys” up in the major leagues. In fact, the league didn’t get officially major until Robinson got there and opened the imagination of the world to what the game could really look like when being played by a world-class athlete. In all due respect to the greats before and after Robinson’s arrival, I don’t think anyone would call Babe Ruth an athlete by any stretch of the imagination. The game changed for the better when the kid from Cairo arrived.
Rookie of the year in 1947, Robinson won the National League Most Valuable Player award in 1949 with what could be argued as the best overall season for a second baseman ever. Robinson led the league with a .342 batting average and 37 stolen bases to go along with 124 runs batted in, 12 triples, 16 home runs, 38 doubles, 203 hits while scoring 122 runs.
I, obviously, never got a chance to see Robinson play in person. He retired 19 years before I was born, but I knew all about him. Born and raised in Brooklyn [Editor’s Note: I know this fact is a recurring theme of my columns and I would like to further notify readers that it isn’t going to stop any time soon. Thank you. Go Mets.], I read street signs and plaques all over the Flatbush area, not far from my neighborhood, about Robinson and the Dodgers. He quickly became and remains my favorite player of all-time because of what I perceive he did for me and for the game of baseball. I started playing little league ball because of Robinson, the same for high school and college sports. The number 42, Robinson’s number with the Dodgers that’s currently retired by every team in the league, has always been a beacon in my mind of what was possible if you put your mind to it and ignore the naysayers.
April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day all over the country. The Clark Atlanta University Panthers baseball team will play in the HBCU Classic at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, in a doubleheader against Claflin University in the nightcap. Benedict College and Paine College (Augusta, Georgia) will play the first game at 3:30 p.m.
“It is an absolute honor to play in the Jackie Robinson Classic,” said Clark Atlanta head coach Kentaus Carter. “For the Clark Atlanta baseball program name to be associated with the man that broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball is motivation for our student-athletes.”
I, too, am going to do my best to represent Robinson and all that he has done for the game of baseball and for me while covering the Houston County High School Bears and the Northside High School Eagles baseball teams on Friday night, April 14, but on April 15, I will most definitely be at a ball game. [Yet another Editor’s Note: If you’re interested, I will be at Bill Evans Field in College Park, Georgia, covering Clark Atlanta University against Claflin University for another publication.] It’s Jackie Robinson Day, what else would I be doing?
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