Today's Pride of Bed-Stuy: Jackie Robinson
A baseball legend breaks racial barriers and earns a place in the Hall of Fame
February 20, 2012: Longtime Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. Robinson excelled early in all sports.
Jackie Robinson attended UCLA where he became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. In 1941, he was named to the All-American football team.
However, due to financial difficulties, he was forced to leave college, and eventually decided to enlist in the U.S. Army.
After two years in the army, he had progressed to second lieutenant. But Robinson's army career was cut short when he was court-martialed in relation to his objections with incidents of racial discrimination. In the end, Robinson left the Army with an honorable discharge.
In 1945, Robinson played one season in the Negro Baseball League, traveling with the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey approached Robinson about joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Robinson moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant to join the Major Leagues. When Robinson first donned a Brooklyn Dodger uniform, he pioneered the integration of professional athletics in America.
By breaking the color barrier in baseball, the nation's preeminent sport, he courageously challenged the deeply rooted custom of racial segregation in both the North and the South.
At the end of Robinson's rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he had become National League Rookie of the Year with 12 homers, a league-leading 29 steals, and a .297 average.
In 1949, he was selected as the NL's Most Valuable player of the Year and also won the batting title with a .342 average that same year. As a result of his great success, Robinson was eventually inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Robinson Robinson's life and legacy will be remembered as one of the most important of any athlete in American history.
Jackie Robinson, we honor your memory and salute your contributions.
*Source, www.jackierobinson.com
**This is a reprint of an article that ran on Bed-Stuy Patch on February 3, 2011
Glenn Krasner
1:33 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Jackie Robinson as a figure was more than just about baseball. His inclusion into the majors led to the integration of baseball, and thus, ushered in the Civil Rights movement in this country. If it wasn't for Jackie Robinsons's bravery (he endured a lot of hostility and insults from the public and other players), the Civil Rights movement probably would have happened much later, with much more suffering in between. After he retired from basefall, he also was one of the first black corporate executives, holding an extremely high corporatate job with the Chock Full of Nuts Coffee Corporation. His widow is still alive, and she is establishing a Jackie Robinson Museum in Lower Manhattan. In addition, there is a memorial to Jackie Robinson at MCU Field (the Brooklyn Cyclones Stadium) in Coney Island, and the Jackie Robinson Memorial Rotunda at Citifield in Flushing. His importance, not only to the progressive movement in this country, and as a hero to New Yorkers, cannot be underestimated!!! We should all appreciate and thank God everyday for Mr. Jackie Robinson!!! Glenn In the Bronx