Jackie Robinson Day 2011: Baseball Legend Remembered Across MLB

Jackie Robinson Day 2011 commemorates the 64th anniversary of his historic debut in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The anniversary simultaneously commemorates the breaking of the color barrier in baseball, as Jackie Robinson was the first black player to play in the MLB. Almost 14,000 of the 26,623 in attendance at Robinson's first game, which took place at Ebbets Field, were black patrons.

While Robinson's debut changed the game forever, and would make him a legend, the initial reaction by teammates and the press was mixed, but generally positive. However, there was immediately controversy in the Dodgers' clubhouse, as some white players openly stated they'd prefer to sit than play alongside Robinson.

The controversy quickly ended once management got involved, as manager Leo Durocher stood up for Robinson and what he could do for the team.

Robinson would become the 1947 Rookie of the Year.

Before joining the Dodgers in 1947, Robinson first played in The Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, and then in the International League with the Montreal Royals in 1945 (this was essentially the minor leagues). In 1955, after eight of his nine years with the Dodgers had passed, the team won the World Series over the New York Yankees, despite the championship match-up occurring six times over the course of Robinson's career.

The barrier-breaking legend retired from baseball in 1956, and passed away October 24, 1972 at the age of 53.

Robinson's jersey number (42) is the only number to be retired league-wide.

Today, a number of teams around the MLB are remembering Robinson's historic career. Teams including the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Dodgers will all have special ceremonies and in-game remembrances for Robinson. Players around the league will don the number 42 when they take the field today.

Perhaps the biggest announcement is the launch of IAM42.com, a site where over 60 players and professionals from across baseball have compiled videos expressing what Robinson's legacy means to them. You can check out the site for yourself, here.

Comments

[emanafunk]

07:11 PM on 04/17/2011

Since racism seems to thrive in America today , Will God bless the rest of us for the hate that creates hate??

[rickthaluddite]

12:17 PM on 04/17/2011

Watch this video celebrating Jackie Robinson's stay in Montreal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE944Mw614A

[CatfishJohn]

12:02 AM on 04/17/2011

What is lesser known is the equall y cruel and bigoted gauntlet the Noble Henry Aaron had to endure on his way to The Braves... Just as pernicious, but after Robinson was in Dodger Blue.

[Richard Horvath]

07:55 PM on 04/16/2011

Imagine a player with that much strength today.

[cvbnm67]

03:33 AM on 04/16/2011

John Amaechi should not throw stones. He never once said a word about being gay, when he was an active NBA player. He may have even participated in ridiculing (traumatizing) another gay person just to maintain his cover. He was paid the big NBA bucks and lived the NBA lifestyle for seven years. Kobe is immature, but he told the truth instead of trying to deny it. Mr. Amaechi might learn something about honesty and trust before he makes comments about Kobe. What does it tell young gay men when they have no role models that are willing to stand-up and sacrifice everything (including NBA money) to be identified by who they are.

[cvbnm67]

03:39 AM on 04/16/2011

This post was meant for another thread. Sorry Mr. Robinson.

[Absolute]

10:38 AM on 04/16/2011

nicely done

[TheBestPatriot]

11:15 PM on 04/15/2011

I love Jackie Robinson Day. I love watching baseball on Jackie Robinson Day. It's great to see all of the players wearing Jackie's number.

[Eric Daniels]

07:56 PM on 04/15/2011

Yeah and Jackie died at 53 because of all that racism he had to hold in, Oh wow, to prove to whites ' WHAT A GOOD BLACK HE IS' for not

1. fighting back racist fans
2. teamates
3. Fellow competitors on the basball diamond

Just like Arthur Ashe holding in all that 'black rage" to satisfy a natural human response to bigotry and Ignorance is a apalling on it's face. Jack Rosevelt Robinson was a great man and Baseball player but it was Thurgood Marshall, Kenneth Clark, the great lawyers at the NAACP Defense that are responsible for most of the progress African- Americans enjoy. And the fact that they died at middle age should make some of us pause and think..

Was intergrating with White America and their racist,violent, sexist, homphobic phony christian pathologies really woth the trouble that Jackie gave his life for?

[YOKEL13]

08:28 PM on 04/15/2011

Thurgood Marshall lived to the age of 84, Kenneth Clark to the age of 90. Charles Houston, one of the legal giants of civil rights, died at the early age of 54. No doubt racism took its toll on many of those fighting the good fight, but others lived to a ripe old age. For an excellent treatment for the legal efforts leading up to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, see "Simple Justice", by Richard Kluger.

[Eric Daniels]

06:26 PM on 04/16/2011

What I was talking about was Robinson's and Ashe's death at middle age, I know that Marshall and Clark lived long lives and it was their effortsof the NAACP legal defense fund that created the modern Civil Rights movement in America.

[coolmaiden]

03:44 PM on 04/16/2011

Mr. Robinson died from uncontrolled diabetes, sir. Which still remains a problem nationwide, especially among African-Americans.

[Eric Daniels]

06:23 PM on 04/16/2011

You don't think the stress he labored under as a young man contributed to his diabetes later in life just like Arthur Ashe whose dealing with the same intense racism Jackie did caused his heart attack at 34 and blood transfusions during those heart surgries after retirment caused to to aquire the HIV virus that later killed him at 50? Systemic Racism is one of the most secret dieases African- Americans face because it's a silent killler that creates the health problems we face as a people.

[foreverdemocrat]

07:45 PM on 04/15/2011

Seems African Americans tend to dominate most sports that they actually care about. Is that why the white athletes didn't want to play alongside?

NBA. Hmmm. I wonder....

[YOKEL13]

08:29 PM on 04/15/2011

I don't understand your point.

[TheBestPatriot]

11:16 PM on 04/15/2011

Neither do I.

[Absolute]

10:39 AM on 04/16/2011

foolishness

[flyers]

06:40 PM on 04/15/2011

I hope that athletes today realize what Jackie Robinson went through to break the color barrier, and how very few people could have done what he did. Usually sports is a negative when it comes to how athletes behave, but this is one time where an athlete transcended society for the better.

[YOKEL13]

08:39 PM on 04/15/2011

All honor is due to Jackie Robinson.... let's not forget the other black athletes who followed immediately after him, fought the good fight, and paid a price: Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, and others.

[local21]

06:08 PM on 04/15/2011

I always think of Jackie Robinson the man first and then the great ball player/athlete.

[indothinker]

05:53 PM on 04/15/2011

men like robinson, willie o'ree (the first black hockey player to play in the nhl), and nat clifton had racial slurs and death threats thrown at them but they remained class acts. i thank them for paving the way for those who followed.

[blackhole2008]

05:39 PM on 04/15/2011

This occurs to me when thinking about Jackie. He paved the way for more than just ballplayers.Obama could be the JR of the presidency, and aren't (didn't) they both go through resistance, although what Jackie faced, was crude and belittling. Obama may be facing resistance a bit more sinister, it's derogtory under the surface, masked as obstruction, and abnormal criticism which seeks to paint him as unamerican.

[Forester]

05:47 PM on 04/15/2011

I totally agree with the Obama/Robinson analogy - and always have. It took an exceptional man in Robinson to transcend society's cruel prejudices, and it took an exceptional man in Obama to do the same. It will never completely end, but I firmly believe that it is examples like these men that overcome the ignorance of personal experience and tradition that spawns rac ism.

[Absolute]

10:40 AM on 04/16/2011

An excellent post, your analogy is perfect.

[Forester]

05:01 PM on 04/15/2011

Barry Bonds has spit all over baseball, while Robinson and Aaron were truly exception men and athletes.

[rickthaluddite]

12:15 PM on 04/17/2011

You're right. I have no idea how many HRs Bonds hit (could look it up but I don't care.) 755 is still the number to beat as far as I'm concerned.

[fridakahlofan]

04:52 PM on 04/15/2011

When I was young, I was at a baseball game in L.A., (night game I think), after the game, we were walking toward the car, at one point I look up,and there he was, I didn't even like baseball at that time,
but I knew he was was a historically important person. I walked up, asked him for his autograph, he didn't really want to, but a woman accompanying him, kindly nudged him to give it to me. I got his autograph.
I was so excited, I was going to give to my Dad, (big fan). Next day, I lost it.
but, I still recall that day and seeing him.
P.S. He was really good looking, too.