THIS DAY IN HISTORY: APRIL 11, 1947
On April 11, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers called up a player from the Montreal Royals, and baseball was changed forever. Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in the Major Leagues since Fleetwood Walker of the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884. He was followed 11 weeks later by Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians. Within a few years, Negro League players like Roy Campanella, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron would join Robinson and Doby as big- league stars, fully integrating America’s national pastime. At 28, Jackie Robinson was quite old for a rookie. He was an incredible athlete, playing pro football and basketball before he broke into the big leagues. But Brooklyn general manager Branch Rickey didn’t just choose Robinson for his athletic ability — he selected him for his character. The famous quote is that Rickey wanted someone “with guts enough not to fight back.” The Sun acknowledged this the day Robinson was called up, with a wire story from New York by Oscar Fraley headlined “Robinson’s Road May Be Rugged.” “Jackie Robinson was in a position today to become the Joe Louis of baseball — as tough an assignment as ever was handed a major league rookie,” Fraley wrote. “Back in 1933, when the Brown Bomber was starting his climb to the top, he was taken aside by his trainer, Jack Blackburn, and given this sage advice. ‘ Chappie, don’t ever get out of line. Remember, every one of us in your race are counting on you’.” Robinson had already broken the colour line in the International League with the Montreal Royals in 1946, when he led the league with a .349 average. Fraley noted Robinson often had to deal with “rival pitchers ( who) sent him diving into the dirt, and the former UCLA athlete ate a lot of spikes.” The major leagues, Fraley wrote, also had some southern athletes who didn’t want to see baseball integrated, “and seldom operate on the highest level of mental maturity.” Robinson was hitless in his first game on April 15, 1947, but quickly established himself as a force. He would bat .297 his first year, led the National League in stolen bases, and won baseball’s first Rookie of the Year award. Two years later, he was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.