Jackie Robinson famously broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947 when on April 15 of that year he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. All well and good, but professional baseball has a farm system. Before one can break the color barrier in the majors, someone first has to break it in the...
...minors.
Robinson did just that when he made his (non-exhibition game) debut with the Class AAA Montreal Royals on April 18, 1946, in an away game at Roosevelt Stadium against the Jersey City Giants. Robinson's first hit was a three-run home run in the game's third inning. He went on to score four more runs, drive in three, and steal two bases in a Royals 14-1 victory. And that was just the beginning. Robinson went on to lead the International League with a .349 batting average and .985 fielding percentage and was named the league's Most Valuable Player by season's end. By the next season's beginning, he was playing for the Dodgers.
Now, I don't want any of this to sound too rosy. As Pro Baseball's first African American player, Robinson had to put up with a lot of shit, to which, per Dodgers owner Branch Rickey's instructions, he turned the other cheek. There were hotels that his teammates stayed at that he couldn't. An exhibition game in racially segregated Jacksonville, Florida had to be canceled when the stadium was ordered padlocked by the city's Park and Public Property director on the day of the game. Other games were mysteriously canceled as well.
OK, that was the Jim Crow South, but Jackie Robinson's home team in the minors was above the Mason-Dixon line. For that matter, it was above the United States' northern border. What did Canadians think of Robinson?
They seemed to like him.
It is hard to imagine the courage needed to do what he did back then. In addition to his skills as a baseball player he obviously had great mental strength.
ReplyDeleteI think some strength training was involved, David. He had to work at it.
DeleteNot just a great ball player, but a great man. What a world.
ReplyDeleteA world with the great and less-than great, Mitchell.
DeleteHello Kirk, Well, it is close to eighty years since Robinson broke the color barrier, and progress in civil rights has been made since then, but not that much, considering that is three generations.
ReplyDeleteAbout Canada's liking him--I recently wrote a comment in Debra's blog about a trans pianist who was virtually ousted from the United States, but who was warmly welcomed in Canada.
--Jim
Jim, I vaguely remember your comment, but not what post of Debra's it happened to be from. Anyway, I know someone who grew up in Canada, and they (their pronoun) did tell me the country tends to skew toward the progressive, much more so than here in the US.
DeleteThey loved Jackie Robinson in Montreal. Not that Canadians can't be racists too (we have our own appalling history) but it's not as overt or hardline as in the US.
ReplyDeleteDebra, for better and worse, "overt" seems to define the US character.
DeleteThank you for reminding us that the peak moment is usually preceded by a lot of other moments leading up to it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Boud. That was the point I was trying to make.
DeleteYou have to have guts and be really good to be first at something.
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DeleteYou mean dumb luck won't get you there, Mike?
DeleteWe owe Mr Robinson a debt of gratitude
ReplyDeleteWhether black or white, we do, Ruby.
DeleteI didn't know of him Kirk. A good guy but died so young. I have read that his widow is still alive at 103! She started a foundation under his name after he passed and still runs it. :-D
ReplyDeleteAnanka, I did not know his widow was still alive. This may be the first you heard of Robinson, but nevertheless, you've taught me something new.
DeleteJackie Robinson....handsome, dedicated, talented and a good man!
ReplyDeleteLinda, I'm sure at least one of those things got him into Cooperstown.
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