StMU Research Scholars

Featuring Scholarly Research, Writing, and Media at St. Mary's University

On April 15, 1947, a young man stepped into the batter’s box in his first at bat in a major league game, destined to become one of the most famous yet unlikely civil rights leaders in American history.1

In 1947, the United States, victorious in World War II, still enforced Jim Crow laws. Bigotry ran rampant in insidious and often subtle ways. Major League Baseball (the MLB) began the year segregated, as it had been since the beginning of the twentieth century.2 Still, in some areas outside the South, racism was less prevalent and “in your face.” There, people of all races were beginning to be aware of racial inequities.3 

Ten years before Rosa Parks, there was Jackie Robinson. A second lieutenant in the US Army, he refused an order to take a seat at the back of a military bus. For doing so, Jackie faced a court martial, but was subsequently acquitted.4 This was no ordinary year in the life of a man who would go on to become a baseball and civil rights icon.

Jackie Robinson signing with Branch Ricky of the Brooklyn Dodgers: Courtesy of appalachianhistory.net

Branch Rickey, part-owner and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, shook up the MLB world by bringing into the organization the first black player of the twentieth century, Jack (Jackie) Roosevelt Robinson. Jackie Robinson had been a very good (but arguably not the best) player in the Negro leagues when Rickey offered him the job.5

Having been primarily raised in California and educated at UCLA, Jackie was not exposed to the racism and bigotry of the Jim Crow laws of the South, and neither had his new bride, Rachel, who was also raised in California. They never imagined how their lives and the world was about to change because of his unlikely partnership with Branch Rickey. Jackie and Rachel had not been exposed to such treatment, and it was a “tremendous difference” from their prior lives.6 

Jackie and Rickey sought to withstand the coming verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse without fighting back, yet without appearing to be weak.7 What would be required of the chosen player would be to play on the starting lineup in order to be a very visible reminder that Major League Baseball was about to change in a big way. The integration of the MLB had to be an apparent, current, on-going event, and not just an abstract concept of the first black player being on the team just sitting in the dugout. The primary focus of both Rickey and Robinson had to be that Jackie be successful on the field. He then must endure the onslaught of racial slurs, bigotry, and dangerous threats to himself and to his family while gaining respect on the baseball diamond.8 For all of these reasons, Jackie Robinson was the choice over all the rest and so began what became a year that would live on in the history of the game of baseball and in no small way, the civil rights movement of the country.

On their way to that first spring training, in Florida, deep in the Jim Crow South, Jackie and Rachel were bumped from two different plane flights for no other reason than for their color.9  “We had to get to that Daytona Beach April 1st.  We didn’t have time to be arrested or anything. So we complied and got off, and we decided to take a bus the rest of the way.”10 When they boarded the bus, they were forced to the back. They complied because getting arrested and not meeting their deadline was not an option.11 They made due in horrific conditions, and made their way, the best they could, to spring training.

Once Jackie began playing, he encountered locked gates at ballparks, because the other teams and the communities in the South would not allow “mixed” games with a black player.12 The Sheriff in Stamford, Florida came onto the field and led Jackie away by force, because he was black. The Sheriff was sent there to arrest Robinson if he did not comply. He complied, based on his agreement with Mr. Rickey to not be confrontational.13 Jackie mastered the skill of not being argumentative, yet not appearing to be subservient either. In other words, he complied with dignity and grace.14 This was his lasting legacy, and exactly what he and Mr. Rickey agreed to at the start of the journey.

Rachel recounts how, during those spring training days in the South, the stands were filled with many Black fans who came to see Jackie play. However, the Black fans were not allowed to come through the gates and the turnstiles as the White folks were; they were required to humiliate themselves by stooping to enter through a hole in the outfield fence.15 “When the black section filled up, they had to sit on the field, on the ground.” If a ball came that way, they had to “scramble like animals” to get out of the way of the ball.16 Despite the degradation, the Black fans at the time dressed up in their finest clothes, coats, and hats to attend the ball games.17

Jackie’s on-field struggles started right off the bat, when he entered a hitting slump that lasted for weeks.18  While this may be a normal adjustment for most players who jump into the MLB from the minor leagues, Rickey’s and Robinson’s plan could not withstand such a slump for long. With everything else that was going on, Jackie had to learn a new fielding position, first base.19 He had been a short-stop in the Negro leagues, and played second base with the minor league Montreal team the year before. The reason this was not possible was the Brooklyn Dodgers of 1947 future Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese played short-stop, and veteran Ed Stanky played second base, neither of whom was expendable on the Dodgers roster.20 Needing Jackie in the lineup for his batting and base-stealing prowess, Rickey decided that Jackie could learn to play first base, a very different position with a very different skill set. These were some of the many hurdles Jackie had to overcome during that first year in the MLB, both on- and off-field.

Robinson’s Threat Letters – Jackie received threat letters throughout his baseball career | Courtesy of Jackie Robinson and Race in America, by Thomas W. Zeiler.21
Hundreds of threatening letters were sent to Jackie, to Rachel, his wife, to Branch Rickey and to the team as a whole. These letters contained mostly anonymous threats of injury, death, and even the kidnapping of Robinson’s son Jackie Jr., who was less than a year old. Mr. Rickey thought some to be so serious that he turned them over to law enforcement to investigate.22 Early in that first spring training season, a group of players on the Dodgers circulated a petition that many of the white, southern players signed. They threatened to quit the team if Jackie Robinson continued to play.23 Rickey, and the Dodgers manager at the time, Leo Durocher, squashed their threats by trading, or threatening to trade or release, each and every player who signed the petition. The Dodgers were standing with Robinson and were not going to put up with bigotry from their own players.24 This was a trying and lonely time for Jackie. He felt alone and deserted, and wondered how anyone could withstand this kind of racism and bigotry.25

As far as the other teams were concerned, Robinson suffered verbal abuse and threats of boycotts (especially from the Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Ben Chapman.) When the Dodgers traveled to Philadelphia for their first series with the Phillies in 1947, Chapman called Jackie every foul name he could think of and encouraged his players to do the same. Jackie took it with dignity and grace, and did not acknowledge them.26 Chapman, when asked about the incidents, said that he was only treating Jackie like he treated every other rookie in the league, calling them various degrading names and throwing insults at every opportunity. He said: “We will treat Robinson the same as we do Hank Greenberg of the Pirates, Clint Hartung of the Giants, Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals, Connie Ryan of the Braves, or any other man who is likely to step to the plate and beat us,” and “There is not a man who has come to the big leagues since baseball has been played who has not been ridden.”27 Chapman’s past made these seemingly fair comments ring hollow.

Manager Ben Chapman and Jackie Robinson holding bat together so they don’t have to touch skin. Courtesy of New York Times

There were instances of violence committed against Jackie on the field by other players. For example, Enos Slaughter, a very  experienced player, who was well respected in the league, spiked Jackie at first base late in the season. This was seen as intentional by Slaughter, since it could have been avoided, but also out of character for him as a seasoned veteran of the game. He denied intent to harm Jackie, and no action was taken against him.28  Jackie led the team in “hit by pitch” in 1947.  (He was very aggressive in the batters box, standing very close to the plate; however,  many pitchers who wanted to show their feelings about the first black player made their feelings known with the high inside pitch.)29 Some players went out of their way to avoid contact with Jackie out of fear of being labeled a bigot or racist. Other players avoided talking to him, out of fear they would be labeled a supporter of integration.30 At that time, the MLB was populated by a very large percentage of players from southern states, and the ones who were not took on the mannerisms, attitudes, and behavior of the southern players. This culture was pervasive in the MLB at the time.31

Some teams threatened to forfeit games against the Dodgers rather than play a “mixed” game with a black player. Rickey, with the backing of the new MLB commissioner, Happy Chandler, said he would gladly take the win, to benefit his team.32 From the 1920’s to 1944 the MLB commissioner was a staunch segregationist, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who likely would not have backed Rickey in his plan with Jackie. Chandler had a much different view and stated his policy was: “If they [black people] can fight and die on Okinawa, Guadalcanal, (and) in the South Pacific, then they can play ball in America.”33 The other teams relented and played. This was the environment into which Jackie Robinson was thrown in 1947.

Then, something miraculous began to happen. Subtle changes began to take shape. Jackie’s hitting slump ended, and he began to hit well. His base stealing slump also ended, and he began to steal bases as before, and at a record pace. His fielding got better, and his teammates, and ultimately other players on other teams, began to respect Jackie for the way he played the game, his quality batting, base running, and aggressiveness.34 The league began to notice that Jackie  had withstood all of the abuse, both verbal and physical, without complaint and with dignity and grace. He was not a victim, he was a quality player. Jackie’s batting average, base stealing totals, and other measurable statistics on the field, steadily began to improve and showed  his abilities.

Fans noticed and appreciated his talent on the field, and his grace under fire during that first year. During one trip to another city for a game, white fans mobbed Jackie for his autograph, so that he had to have police escort him back to his hotel. Sportswriter Sam Martin said, “it was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind.”35 White kids were imitating Jackie’s aggressive style of play, and people noticed that too. Toward the end of the season, when the Philadelphia Phillies visited Brooklyn to play another series against the Dodgers, their manager, Ben Chapman, who was so ugly and racist with his insults toward Robinson during their first meeting, sought to make amends, and they met on the field and shook hands in an effort to show there were no hard feelings. For the media, they jointly posed for a picture with a bat.36 The message was that Jackie was part of the MLB and he was there to stay.

The culminating event of Jackie’s acceptance into the MLB, as the first black player, but also as a quality first year player, was the award Rookie of the Year from the MLB.37 This was his crowning achievement to integrate the MLB at long last. The Dodgers ended up in the World Series that year, but lost to the juggernaut New York Yankees, with players as iconic as Yogi Berra and Joe Dimaggio.

Jackie Robinson stealing home plate in the 1955 World Series against the Yankees in New York. Courtesy of The New York Times.

In 1962, Jackie Robinson was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame on the first ballot.38 Jackie’s number, 42, is the only number to ever be retired by every MLB team. Every year, on April 15, all players in Major League Baseball  don jerseys with the number 42 emblazoned on them, all in honor of Jackie and his extraordinary first year in the MLB.39 His example of courage, grace, and dignity during that 1947 year in Baseball, the year Branch Rickey took a chance on a young, black player from the Negro League by the name of Jackie Robinson, forever ending the segregation of Major League Baseball and emblazoned his path as one of a most unlikely civil rights hero.

MARCH 31: (L-R) Rachel Robinson, Leonard Coleman, President of the National League and Jerry Colangelo pose during the ceremony to retire Jackie Robinson’s number on March 31, 1998 | Courtesy of Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Jackie Robinson’s first year in Major League Baseball, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, was anything but ordinary.40 The transition from minor league play to major league play would have been difficult enough for anyone. But Jackie faced the unique trial of having to deal with vile, ugly, devastating personal and racial attacks from other teams’ managers and players, the fans watching from the stands, the restaurants and hotels his team visited on the road, and his own teammates. This made the situation almost intolerable. Through it all, he stood strong. Not only did he succeed in the MLB, but he was awarded the Rookie of the Year honor that year. It was not a normal year in the life of a baseball player.41

“The year 1947 has already gone down in baseball history as the year in which Jim Crow was sent packing by professional baseball.”42

  1. Courtney Smith, Jackie Robinson: A Life in American History (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2021), 113.
  2. Thomas Zeiler, Jackie Robinson and Race in America (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, 5-11.
  3. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 0:17, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  4. Courtney Smith, Jackie Robinson: A Life in American History (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2021), 20.
  5. Jules Tygiel, John Thorn, and John Thorn, “Jackie Robinson’s Signing: The Real Story,” in SABR 50 at 50, ed. John Thorn et al., The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020), 162-171.
  6. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 0:19, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  7. Lee Lowenfish, Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 483.
  8. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 55-61.
  9. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 1:45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  10. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 3:35, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  11. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 4:01, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  12. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 5:02, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  13. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 5:12, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  14. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 55-61.
  15. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 6:14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  16. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 6:53, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  17. Visionary Project, Rachel Robinson: Playing Ball: North and South, 6:37, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lj_fOIO-NQ, accessed March 30, 2023.
  18. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 84.
  19. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 81.
  20. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 67.
  21. Thomas W. Zeiler, Jackie Robinson and Race in America ( New York: Times Books, 2007), 10.
  22. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 199-200.
  23. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 81-83.
  24. Lee Lowenfish, Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 673-674.
  25. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 190-191.
  26. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 84-88.
  27. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 151.
  28. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 95.
  29. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 325, 415.
  30. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 202.
  31. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 19.
  32. Lee Lowenfish, Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 692-693.
  33. Happy Chandler, AZQuotes.com, Wind and Fly LTD, 2023, https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1050635, accessed April 12, 2023.
  34. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 77-78.
  35. Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York:  Putnam, 1972), 78.
  36. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 202-203.
  37. Courtney Smith, Jackie Robinson: A Life in American History (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2021), 148.
  38. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 496.
  39. Thomas Zeiler, Jackie Robinson and Race in America (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, 147.
  40. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 14.
  41. Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2007), 14.
  42. Thomas Zeiler, Jackie Robinson and Race in America (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, 99, quoting Henry Foner, “Mah Nishtanah” in Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream, ed. Joseph Dorinson and Joram Warmund (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E.Sharpe, 1998), 70-71.

Jared Sherer

My graduating class is 2025, my major is History.

Author Portfolio Page

Recent Comments

75 comments

  • Danielle Sanchez

    This article was informative and well written! In 1947 Jackie Robinson would step into the batter’s box in his first bat in a major league game. This became the most famous civil rights leader in American History. The winning of WWII enforced the Jim Crow laws which let to Major League Baseball to began the year segregated. Outside of the South, racism was less prevalen and more in your face.

  • Jackie Robinson is one of the most important players in MLB history and this article made by Mr. Sherer was very informal. Everything was perfectly placed and it was very interesting. The article draws you to it and makes you want to read more. Great article and thank you for sharing.

  • lanette

    So proud of my former student.

  • Sheahan Paul

    One of the best and detailed pieces written on #42. Enjoyed the literary journey you weaved. Was captured by the storytelling artistry of the young author. Great job!

  • Vincent Villanueva

    Although I have heard and learned a lot about Jackie Robinson’s story over the years, I don’t think I was ever able to fully put it in to perspective the timeline and the way that his story transpired and changed many lives. Thank you for a great article and for allowing us as readers an inside look into Robinson’s story and life before baseball as well

  • Melyna Martinez

    This article really shows an intresting dynamic a sports start such as Jackie Robinson had not only in the sport but the world. Having to deal with the challenges of going pro and the racial biases that exist during this time period is so intresting. Really overcoming and still playing the sport because he loved it shows the caliber of the person he is and the legacy he left behind.

  • Isabella Lopez

    Although I despise the Dodgers, Jackie Robinson is the exception. There is so much more to him than baseball like his grace and bravery with racist in baseball. I never knew he was in the military. I love how you acknowledged him for not giving up his seat, as Rosa Parks did, but previous to her. Great article, congrats on getting published.

  • Maggie Trujillo

    This is a great article! I have watched Jackie’s movie, “42”, many times and this article was a great addition to add more details that the movie didn’t include. I never knew that African American baseball fans weren’t allowed through the turnstiles! It was awesome to read that despite not being let in, they still showed up and supported in their best clothes. It is still great to see how the MLB recognizes Jackie’s accomplishment every year by wearing his jersey.

  • Lauren York

    Wonderful write up on an incredible person. I’ve always admired Jackie Robinson but I don’t think we really understood all he endured to become the icon he is today and to change the direction of baseball forever. Thanks for sharing your research!

  • Parker Heath York

    Mr.Sherer’s essay told me a lot of interesting facts about Jackie Robinson. I absolutely loved it, as soon as I started I couldn’t stop there were so many facts.

Leave your comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.