Jackie Robinson Segregation

The next great event of 1947 happened in America’s Pastime of Major League Baseball. In 1947, baseball was separated by skin color just like most places in the U.S. during this time. The whites played in the MLB while the blacks had their own league, the Negro League. This was how baseball was played until a man by the name of Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers team. If Robinson could become good enough to play in the MLB for the Dodgers, he would be the “major leagues’ first African-American player in 50 years” (Barber 1) to play in an all-white league. Finally “on April 15, 1947, Robinson shattered baseball’s color barrier when he played for the Dodgers” (Frick 5) after only being in the minors a few months. Even though Jackie integrated …show more content…
Overall baseball “had brought the races together” (Barber 3) through Jackie Robinson although it “didn’t open the flood gates of integration in Major League Baseball” (Barber 3). Jackie “forever changed the game of baseball” (Barber 1) and his jersey “number 42 has been retired in every ball-club” (Frick 5) is the only number to every be retired due to Jackie’s bravery and heroics. Even though the big event in 1947 was the first African-American to play in the MLB, there were a lot of first for many sports. The “fans began to choose the starting lineups for the Major League All-Star Game with a mail-in ballot” (Barber 8) which is huge to get the fans involved because the All-Star Game is mainly for the fans. Another first was the first baseball College World Series where “the University of California at Berkley beat Yale University” (Barber 8). Finally “the first Little League World Series was held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania” (Barber 8). These are all baseball related firsts but they mean so much to the game and how it has progressed since