1 Chapter 0 Who Was Jackie Robinson

Who Was Jackie Robinson?

Who Was Jackie Robinson? JULY 23, 1962: NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM, COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK Jackie Robinson stepped up to a mic, not home plate. He wore a suit and tie, not a baseball uniform. At forty-three years old, Jackie had been retired from the Brooklyn Dodgers for five years. Yet the crowd cheered as loudly as if he'd just hit a World Series home run.

Jackie faced the smiling crowd. About two thousand people had gathered on Main Street in Cooperstown, New York. They were sitting and standing on the lawn in front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Jackie's

mother, wife, and children were there. So was Branch Rickey. He had hired Jackie. Many people who didn't know Jackie had also traveled long distances to see him enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jackie felt proud and grateful. Growing up, he never thought something like this could happen to him. He thanked everyone: "all of the people," he said, "throughout this country who were just so wonderful."

Baseball is a game of highs and lows, streaks and slumps. It's a tough sport, and it was tougher for Jackie than for any other ballplayer of his time. Why? Jackie Robinson was black. In 1947, when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was the first and only African American on the team. No other major league team had black players. It was an allwhite sport. And it had been that way for more than fifty years. When Jackie was growing up, blacks and whites did not have the same chances in life. And in baseball? No blacks played on National or American League teams. Many people thought black athletes didn't have the talent, drive, or smarts. Jackie proved these people wrong and made history. Now, in Cooperstown, Jackie was making history again. He was the first black baseball player to enter the Hall of Fame. The plaque for Jackie listed all of his amazing stats. However, there was nothing about being the first black player. Jackie hadn't wanted any mention of that.

He wanted the plaque to honor his ability, the same way it did for every other Hall of Famer. But there was no denying it—Jackie Robinson changed sports history. He was not only a baseball hero. He was a civil rights hero, too. JIM CROW LAWS