Remembering Jackie

On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play in a Major League Baseball game.  In honor of this, every player on every team wore his number, #42, today.

When Jackie was signed by the Dodgers in 1946, the owner of the Dodgers, Branch Rickey, told Jackie that if he were signed, he would need to be prepared to endure harassment, threats, and unmatched pressure to perform well.  And experience these, he did.  Yet he went on to be voted Rookie of the Year, was selected as the Most Valuable Player in 1950, helped lead his team to a championship in 1955, and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame. 

His demeanor belied his fear.  Jackie later said that while it might not have been evident to those watching, the harassments and threats that he faced got to him.  ”The toll these incidents took were greater than I realized.  I was overestimating my stamina and underestimating the beating I was taken.  I couldn’t sleep or eat.”  Speaking about an incident in which an opposing team’s manager organized his team to chant the n-word and in which his teammate did nothing, Jackie said, “I felt tortured and I tried to just play ball and ingore the results.  But it was really getting to me…For one wild rage-crazed moment, I thought, ‘To hell with Mr. Rickey’s noble experiment…To hell with the image of the patient black freak I was supposed to create.  I could throw down my bat, stride over to the Phillies dugout, grab one of those white sons of b——, and smash his teeth in with my despised black fist.  Then I could walk away from it all.’ ”  Tormented yet successful, Jackie played on.

As one story goes, a local white supremicist group in Cincinatti threatened to assassinte Robinson when the Dodgers came to town.  One of Jackie’s teammates, Pee Wee Reese, said, “I think we will all wear 42 and then they will have a shooting gallery.”  Well, Jackie, today everyone wears #42 in solidarity…but also in honor of you.  Because of your bravery, every player can wear your number today, a number that brings not guns and fear and racism and harassment, but tears, applause, and gratitude.  And while there is still much work to be done in this country with regard to racism and hate and violence, your commitment to justice and equality and the desire to do what you love has inspired millions and brought us further along on the road to justice, peace, and opportunity for all.

(All quotes are from A People’s History of Sports in the United States by Dave Zirin.)