| Jackie Robinson and the Integration of US Baseball |
Jackie Robinson and the Integration of US Baseball
In 1945, when Jackie Robinson batted .387 for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs,
he established himself as an excellent athlete. Two years later, when he stepped onto the
Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field, he'd become a civil rights icon.
Jackie Robinson was the first African American major league ballplayer of his century.
Before Robinson accepted this courageous position, America's "national pastime" had
been officially segregated for sixty years. Robinson's baseball experience exemplifies a
history of racial separation and integration in the United States.
Americans had been playing baseball informally since at least the early 1800s. The sport
gained popularity over several decades, and by 1845 amateurs nationwide adopted a
standard set of rules. Unfortunately, mixed in with rules about batting and running were
the understood rules of Jim Crow culture. Even after the Civil War, people tended to
enforce segregation by skin color; and as sports participation reflected US society, black
men were often not welcomed onto white men's amateur teams. (It's interesting to note
that several were allowed to participate by identifying as "white Latin Americans".)
When Cincinnati formed the first professional team in 1869 -- the Red Stockings - black
men were tacitly excluded. Some briefly played on less discriminatory professional teams
that formed in the 1870s. Moses "Fleet" Walker is known for playing in Toledo until a
prominent white player from Chicago protested his presence. Following the dispute, in
1887 the International League banned future contracts with black players. Over the next
decade, most professional black players were limited to playing the exhibition circuit -
and eventually, baseball leadership actually prohibited white players from wearing major
league uniforms during these exhibition games.
African American players still had a few professional options. Many played in Cuba and
other parts of Latin America during the winter. Some formed their own US teams, such
as the St. Louis Black Stockings, and a viable alternative league, the Negro National
League, emerged by 1920. Jackie Robinson joined the Negro American League in 1945
when he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs.
Racial attitudes were starting to change across America. The experiences of black and
white soldiers in World War II contributed to some people realizing that general
segregation ought to end. Regarding sports in particular, the Navy's champion baseball
team, which was integrated, may have swayed some fans.
However, Robinson would still face intense discrimination. When the brave Branch
Rickey of the Dodgers assigned him to the Montreal Royals in 1946, some baseball fans
and even some teammates expressed bigotry. People hurled insults at Robinson, and
some players even insinuated that they'd change teams. Meanwhile, Robinson had
privately agreed to Rickey's stipulation that he "not take the bait" when harassed.
Fortunately, the Dodgers' management supported Robinson and refused to retreat on the
decision to integrate. Motivated by both his conscience and financial calculations, Leo
Durocher reportedly declared:
"I don't care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has
stripes like a� 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 can't use the money, I'll see that you are
all traded."
Robinson, baseball, and America overall are fortunate that Dodgers management
maintained its position. Even as Robinson experienced bigotry and harassment, he also
won many friends within baseball and became a beloved national hero. A Hollywood
gossip columnist even pronounced Jackie Robinson the second-most popular man of
1947 (right after Bing Crosby). Some believe that Robinson indirectly influenced
President Truman's 1948 decision to integrate the US Armed Forces.
With US society slowly changing and repealing Jim Crow laws, and with Robinson's
legacy of fantastic baseball statistics, more major league teams began integrating. The
Negro League teams eventually lost many star players, and by 1960 this vestige of
segregation had entirely folded. In 1987, about forty years after Robinson's major league
debut, major league baseball paid tribute by renaming the Rookie of the Year Award the
Jackie Robinson Award.
PPPPP
(word count 673)
|
Causes of US Involvement in World War II Following World War I, the United States adopted an isolationist stance. Starting ...
read more
Chinese Immigrants and the Iron Road On a bright May day in 1869, railroad workers, businessmen, and government officials gathered ...
read more
Deep Throat and his Legacy In the pre-dawn hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard called police officers to ...
read more
Economic Causes of the American Revolution What brought about the American Revolution? Like most military conflicts, the Revolution was spurred ...
read more
Equality and the Seneca Falls Convention "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created ...
read more
France and the American Revolution In March of 2003, after France opposed a UN invasion of Iraq, two US Republicans ...
read more
General Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad Araminta Ross, later named Harriet Tubman, was born into slavery circa 1820. She ...
read more
George Washington's Federal Government When a modern US president travels, he or she expects the electorate to cover the cost. ...
read more
Gold Fever and the Growth of California One January day in 1848, a man named James Marshall was inspecting a ...
read more
Jackie Robinson and the Integration of US Baseball In 1945, when Jackie Robinson batted .387 for the Negro League Kansas ...
read more
Japanese Internment Camps in the United States Just off of US Highway 395, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada ...
read more
John O'Sullivan and America's Manifest Destiny When leaders wish to conquer foreign lands, they invariably put forth a list of ...
read more
John Scopes and the Teaching of Evolution In the mid-1920s, many young Americans flaunted long-established Victorian culture. Women were voting, ...
read more
Lowell Factory Girls of the 19th Century During the first half of the 1800s, girls and young women from throughout ...
read more
Navajo Windtalkers: America's Secret Weapon When the United States fought World War II, they ran the constant risk of information ...
read more
Prayer, Persecution, and Portsmouth: A Story of Colonist Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) is a key figure in the history ...
read more
Prohibition and its Repeal When clocks struck midnight on January 16, 1920, the United States officially went dry. The age ...
read more
The Botched Bay of Pigs Invasion In the wee morning hours of April 17, 1961, nearly fifteen hundred Cuban exiles ...
read more
The Frenzy of Salem Witch Trials Over the summer of 1692, members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony became caught up ...
read more
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere "Listen children and you shall hear/The midnight ride of Paul Revere." So begins a ...
read more
The Rise and Fall of Jamestown In the early 1600s, an English preacher named Alexander Whitaker described a land where ...
read more
The Scandalous Typhoid Mary In 1907, Mary Mallon was working as a household cook when an inspector named George Soper ...
read more
The US Presidency and Tecumseh's Curse In 1840, General William Henry Harrison easily won the US presidency. He was celebrated ...
read more
What Caused the Great Depression? The Great Depression was a global phenomenon that significantly changed the course of history. In ...
read more
Who Was Samuel Adams? Today, the name Sam Adams is associated with the Boston Beer Company. How did a statesman's ...
read more
|
|
|
Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Jackie Robinson and the Integration of US Baseball. In practical advice websites,
like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made.
Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|