Jackie Robinson made one of the most daring moves by playing Major

League baseball. The amount of pain and suffering this man went through was so harsh

that I don't know how he was able to play. Carl Erskine said,"Maybe I see Jackie

differently. You say he broke the color line. But I say he didn't break anything. Jackie

was a healer. He came to rectify a wrong, to heal a sore in America"(Dorinson back

cover).
     
     Jackie was born January thirty-first 1919. Shortly after he was born, his father

deserted his family. Almost a year after that, Jackie's uncle came to visit and convinced

his family to move to California with him. The whole family moved out there with his

uncle. They moved to Pasadena,California.
     
     The neighborhood they moved into was mostly a white neighborhood. The white

people did not want them in the neighborhood. They would criticize Jackie and his

family. When he was about eight years old, he had learned to stand up for himself and

answer back when the occasion demanded.
     
     Jackie went to Muir Tech. High School. At high school is where he began to get

interested in sports. He competed in football, baseball, basketball, and track. He was a

good player in every sport. During high school, college recruiters failed to pay

attention to him. He didn't receive any scholorship, so he decided to go to Pasadena

Junior College.
     
     Pasadena Junior College is where Jackie began to get noticed for his athletic

abilities. He set many records in track, baseball, and football. Babe Horrel wanted to

recruit Jackie from Pasadena Junior College. One of the best athletes on the West

Coast(Tygiel 27)
     
     After two years at Pasadena Junior College, he transfered to UCLA. Jackie went

here so his brother, Frank would be able to attend most of the games. His brother never

did get to see a game because he died in a motocycle accident.
     
     At UCLA, Jackie lettered in four sports in one year. He was the first player to do

that. He played track, baseball, basketball, and football. Jackie was one of the best all-

around athletes that UCLA has ever had(Tygiel 26). Jackie decided to drop out of college

and join the army.
     
     Jackie applied for Office Candidate School. He was stationed at Fort Riley in

Oklahoma. Blacks were not accepted for OCS. Jackie did not like this and confronted the

action. This was his first attempt at racial discrimination. He sent complaints to the

Secretary of Defense. Within a few days, Jackie and several blacks were in OCS(Duckett 23-24)

     After the Army, Jackie joined the Kansas City Monarchs. This is a team in the

Negro Leagues. He was paid three hundred dollars a month. Blacks who wanted to play

baseball could sign up on black teams only. These teams were poorly financed, and their

management and promotion left much to be desired. Travel schedules were unbelievably

hectic(Duckett 36).

     Branch Rickey was the baseball coach at Ohio Wesleyan. He was on his way to a

game in South Bend, Indiana when his team needed to stop at a hotel to get some sleep.

He had one black player on the team that couldn't stay in the hotel. The manager of the

hotel wouldn't let him. Rickey convinced the manager to let him sleep there(Duckett 38).

Branch does not care about skin color. He only cares about the talent of a player. He was

later owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. He was very interested in Jackie. He

wasn't sure about taking Jackie because of his temper. Rickey talked to Jackie and told

him if he could control his temper, he would be able to play. If Jackie tried to fight back

in a Major League game, he would be harrassed, booed, abused and maybe even killed.

     It was a crucial event in the history of the American rights moment, the

importance of which went far beyond the insuler world of baseball(Dorinson 132).

Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie said," I know

that I am black man in a white world"(Duckett 12). Jackie will be the first black in the

Major Leagues.

     No one wanted Jackie to play. Fans would send him mail threatening him,

damage his property, curse at him, and would even hit him. They believed blacks should

play in their own league. The police barely helped him from the people that would go to

his house and damage it because he was black. Rickey also received a lot of grief for

signing him. Some fans said they would stop going to the games, until they got rid of

Jackie. They even threatened to kill Rickey.

     April fifteenth 1947 was Jackie debut. Opening day for Jackie Robinson was very

exciting. He enjoys coming out to the large crowds. He is also afraid of the fans booing

and yelling at him(Dorinson 131-132). Jackie Robinson's major league debut was more

than just the first step in righting a historical wrong(Dorinson 132). Jackie was fine after

the first game. His fears were not over after the first game. Every game Jackie would

have to worry about guys sliding in cleat first, throwing sand in his eyes, and even

intentionally hitting him. Jackie still kept his calm through all of this. He never once

complained or fought back at the other players

     Jackie would get very lonely because he didn't have any friends or anyone to talk

to. His teammates, the other teams, and even the fans didn't like him. One man though

did become friends with him. It was his teammate Peewee Reese. Reese was a white man

that played shortstop for the Dodgers. During one game, Jackie mad a diving catch to win

the game for the Dodgers. Jackie got hurt on the play. Reese goes over to second base to

make sure Jackie was alright. No one else came over to see if he was alright. It showed a

lot of courage for Reese to do that. Reese took a lot of crap for doing it but he didn't care.

     Thus in eight years America's most prominent national sport moved from a

tradition of seventy years discrimination to almost complere intergration(Tygiel 156).

The big step of Jackie joining major league baseball changed everything in sports and

life. He was a civil rights leader just like Martin Luther King Jr. He made the big step to

show that it's not impossible to get things to be equal.We should all be very thankful for

what Jackie Robinson has done. He didn't give into fear and run away from the challenge

of breaking the color barrier. He took the challenge and conquered it. He changed the

history of baseball and the rest of life. He helped the blacks become equal to the white

race.