Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson Biography
Jack Roosevelt Robinson, better known to the world as Jackie, was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, USA. He was the last of five children born into a family of sharecroppers, which meant they worked the land for a landowner in return for a share of the crops they produced. Jackie’s middle name was given to him in honour of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had died only 25 days before he was born.
Before Jackie was one year old, his father, Jerry, left the family, and so his mother, Mallie, moved with Jackie and his three brothers, Edgar, Frank, and Matthew, and his sister, Willa Mae, to a small plot containing two houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena, California. The neighbourhood itself was rather affluent compared to what the family had known before, but as Mallie had only a few odd jobs to pay the bills, they themselves were relatively poor. Due to the lack of things to do for a kid in the neighbourhood, Jackie was tempted to join in the gang culture but was persuaded not to by his friend Carl Anderson.
In 1935, Jackie attended John Muir High School after graduating from Washington Junior High and was encouraged to pursue his interest in sports by his brothers, Matthew and Frank. (It should be noted that Jackie was not the only member of his family to become an accomplished sportsman. His brother Matthew, also known as Mack, would become a silver medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Jackie played a number of sports at school, including football, where he played quarterback, basketball, where he played guard, baseball, where he played shortstop and catcher. He also enjoyed track events and was a member of the tennis team. The Pasadena Star News in 1937 reported that Jackie had been the outstanding athlete at Muir for two years running.
After graduating from Muir, Jackie attended Pasadena Junior College, where he continued to pursue his interests in football, basketball, baseball, and track. In 1938, he was elected to the baseball team for the All-Southland Junior College team and became the region’s most valuable player. During the same year, he was recognised by the college for the commitment and dedication he showed to his work and for the outstanding service he gave to his school.
Also during this time, Jackie was persuaded to attend church regularly by the Rev. Karl Downs, who became a confidant for him. He was also starting to have regular run-ins with authority figures, including the police, especially when he or his friends became the targets of racially motivated incidents.
Towards the end of his time at Pasadena Junior College, the brother he was closest to, Frank, was killed in a motorcycle accident. This led to Jackie wanting to stay close to Frank’s family, and so he decided to pursue his athletic career at UCLA, which was nearby.
At UCLA, Jackie Robinson once again excelled in his four chosen sports and became part of what was, at the time, the most integrated college football team in the country, the UCLA Bruins, as one of four black players on the team. He won accolades in track and field and also met Rachel Isum, who would become his future wife, whilst at UCLA. However, in early 1941, he left college to get a job as an assistant athletic director with the National Youth Administration. When the government disbanded the programme, Robinson travelled to Hawaii and played semi-professional football for the Honolulu Bears. He soon returned to California, but what looked to be a professional football career in the making was stopped dead when, in December of 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour.
Jackie Robinson was drafted in 1942 and was assigned to a segregated Army Cavalry unit. As he had the qualifications, he applied to officer school, but although the policy was for officer school to be racially neutral, few black applicants were admitted. It took some intervention from Truman Gibson, an aide to the Secretary of War, and protests by none other than the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Joe Louis, before Jackie was admitted. After this, Jackie and Joe Louis would become friends, and Jackie Robinson was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. At around the same time, Jackie and Rachel were formally engaged.
Jackie was assigned to the 761st Tank Battalion, also known as the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were the first black tank unit to see combat, but Jackie wasn’t with them. An incident involving his refusal to travel at the back of a bus whilst travelling to have his ankle looked at, which he had injured during college, eventually led to a court martial. He was acquitted of all charges, but the proceedings took so long that he never saw combat duty. He served as an army athletics coach in Kentucky until he received his honourable discharge in 1944. Whilst in Kentucky, however, Jackie was persuaded to write to the Kansas City Monarchs, a baseball team that was part of the Negro American League, to ask for a tryout.
In 1945, Jackie Robinson signed for the Kansas City Monarchs for $400 per month. He didn’t enjoy his time in the Negro League, though. The hectic schedule kept him away from Rachel, and he was appalled at the league’s embrace of gambling and its seemingly chaotic structure. He played 47 games for the Monarchs.
During the season, Jackie pursued an interest in the Major Leagues. The Boston Red Sox held a tryout for him and other black players, but this was a farce, and he was subjected to racial insults. He left humiliated. Other clubs showed more serious interest, though, and Jackie eventually signed a $600 per month contract to play for the Montreal Royals in the 1946 season. The main gain for Jackie was that the gruelling schedule of the Monarchs was now behind him, and so he was able to return to Pasadena. On 10 February 1946, Jackie Robinson and Rachel Isum were married. They would go on to have three children: Jackie Jr. in 1946, Sharon in 1950, and David in 1952.
When the 1946 season started, Jackie struggled to get a game as various officials in Florida refused to allow any game to take place which involved a black player. It would take some serious lobbying before a game was eventually allowed to take place, but on 17 March 1946, Robinson played in an exhibition game between the Montreal Royals and its parent team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, making Jackie the first black player to openly play in a game featuring a major league baseball team. His professional debut in the minor leagues came on 18 April 1946 when the Montreal Royals met the Jersey City Giants at Roosevelt Stadium in New Jersey. Robinson led the International League that season and was named the Most Valuable Player. Over one million fans attended baseball games featuring Jackie Robinson in 1946.
The Major League’s colour barrier was broken the following year when Montreal’s parent team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, called Jackie Robinson up to the Majors. He made his debut as a first baseman on 15 April 1947.
Robinson would continue to receive racial abuse in the major leagues, too. Players would refuse to play with him and there was talk of a strike but this was leaked to the press and the National League stamped on any talk of a strike by advising all players that they would be suspended indefinitely and what’s more the press was seen to be on Jackie’s side and made it clear that any striking player would not receive any support. This didn’t stop Jackie from being the target of some rough play on the field, though, and continued racial abuse from the fans. However, all of this resolved to unite the Brooklyn Dodgers team even more than they already were.
It wasn’t all bad, though, and many players from other teams showed their support for Jackie Robinson, including Lee Handley and Pee Wee Reese, to name two. Pee Wee Reese is famously quoted as saying, “You can hate a man for many reasons. Colour is not one of them”.
Robinson finished the 1947 season as Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year.
The racial pressure on Jackie Robinson started to ease during the 1948 season as a number of other black players joined the league. He signed a $12.500 contract and made more money during the off-season on a vaudeville tour answering pre-set baseball questions.
In 1949, Jackie spent hours at the batting tee to improve his batting. With the help of Hall of Famer George Sisler, he made significant improvements to his batting average, which, along with other improvements, helped him become 1949’s MVP. He was also becoming a national treasure, with songs being written about him that made the charts.
In 1950, Jackie became the highest-paid Dodger of all time with a $35,000 annual salary and led the National League in double plays by a second baseman. He stole 12 bases and scored 99 runs by the end of the year. During the same year, Jackie Robinson also became a movie star when he appeared in The Jackie Robinson Story, playing himself.
In 1951, Jackie nearly won the pennant with the Dodgers, but they were defeated by the New York Giants in a best-of-three playoff series, which was ultimately won by the home run from Bobby Thomson after the famous ‘shot heard around the world’. The Dodgers would win the National League Pennant in 1952 but lost the World Series to the New York Yankees. In terms of his personal performance, 1952 was an average year for Jackie and would be the last as an everyday starter at second base.
History repeated itself in 1953 with the Dodgers winning the Pennant but losing the World Series to the Yankees. Throughout that season, Jackie played in various positions and became increasingly interested in the possibilities associated with managing a baseball team. He also continued to publicly address racial issues and served as editor for Out Sports magazine, using the platform to openly criticise segregated hotels and restaurants, some of which changed their ways as a result.
1954 would be the year that Jackie Robinson would become part of a championship-winning team when the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in that year’s World Series. In terms of his personal performance, though, it was Jackie’s worst. He was now 37 years old and had missed 49 games, including the 7th game of the World series.
After the 1956 season ended, Jackie Robinson was traded by the Dodgers to the New York Giants for $35,000 in cash; however, the deal was never completed, as Robinson had already decided to retire. Jackie Robinson retired from baseball on 5 January 1957. Later the same year, he was diagnosed with diabetes. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
He tried his hand at a number of things after baseball, including politics, and served as Chairman of the Board for Freedom National Bank. He also formed a construction company to help build low-cost housing. He also tried his hand at being a sports announcer for ABC.
He made his last public appearance when he threw the ceremonial first pitch at the start of game two of the World Series on 15 October 1972.
His diabetes continued to cause his health to deteriorate, and by middle age, Jackie Robinson was almost blind. He also had developed heart disease. All of this came together on October 24, 1972, and nine days after his appearance at the World Series, Jackie Robinson passed away. He was 53 years old.
Jackie Robinson FAQ
Jackie Robinson was an American baseball player who broke Major League Baseball’s colour barrier in 1947 when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first Black athlete to play in the MLB in the modern era.
His presence challenged decades of racial segregation in professional sports, paving the way for integration across American athletics and becoming a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.
Robinson was named Rookie of the Year in 1947, won the National League MVP in 1949, and helped the Dodgers win six pennants and a World Series. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Jackie Robinson is remembered as a civil rights pioneer, an exceptional athlete, and a man of profound courage and integrity. His number, 42, is retired across all Major League teams in his honour.
[this article originally appeared on 5MinuteBiographies.com on 11 April 2019]
