10-19-17
Equality has been a popular topic in the sports world recently, with Colin
class, this was one of the main topics we talked about. We talked about why he
started to do it, what the purpose was for it, and how it is looked at and how it will
be viewed moving forward. This isn’t the first time that equality has been discussed
in sports or has been an issue in the sports world. Before the 1940s, professional
sports were intended for only white people with African Americans having their
own leagues in sports such as the Negro Baseball League. White people back then
didn’t see any reason why African Americans should be allowed to compete with
them in any sport, but African Americans believed they should be able to play in the
same leagues as white people because they were fighting for racial equality. In the
1940s, professional sports had its first glimpse of racial equality with the emergence
of Jackie Robinson, an African American baseball player. This is when racial equality
in professional sports began to change from segregated leagues to leagues with both
African American athletes and white athletes. The movement for racial equality in
Before he started his professional baseball career Jackie Robinson was a big
believer in equal rights and stood up for his beliefs. Jackie was a phenomenal
athlete, in college Jackie lettered in four sports at UCLA, which included baseball,
football, basketball, and track (Jackie). After dropping out from UCLA because of
financial problems at home, Jackie was drafted into the Army in 1942 where he was
move to the back of the bus. After he was discharged from the Army, Jackie started
his professional baseball career in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs
in 1945. Once Jackie joined the Kansas City Monarchs, the Monarchs shortstop was
moved to second base so that Jackie could play shortstop. Although Jackie excelled
on the field, he didn’t like the traveling they did and having to put up with all the
racism they had to deal with and all the Jim Crow laws that they encountered while
traveling to different cities (Swaine). Having to deal with all this racism on the road
and not overreacting to it helped Jackie with the next opportunity that came
Jackie only played one season with the Kansas City Monarchs before he got
his next opportunity. The next opportunity Jackie got would change his life and the
game of baseball forever. The president, general manager, and a part owner of the
in a way that nobody saw coming. Ricky wanted to break the color barrier in
baseball by signing the first African American baseball player to give him the chance
consisted of only white players during the time. Ricky was the general manager of
the St. Louis Cardinals when he got the idea of revolutionizing baseball but because
St. Louis was a segregated city, it didn’t seem like it would work while in St. Louis so
when he left and joined the Brooklyn Dodgers he decided that it was the right time
to put his plan of breaking the color barrier in baseball into action (Oshinsky).
Although Jackie had problems listening to white authority while in the military, he
seemed like a good candidate for what Ricky wanted to do for the game of baseball
(Swaine). Ricky believed that Jackie could handle anything that was thrown at him;
Ricky knew it would be a tough road for Jackie but felt like he could handle
everything without fighting back because he had already experienced so much in his
baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1946, Jackie played his first year of
professional baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers AAA team the Montreal Royals.
Jackie found great success in his first year of professional baseball in the white mans
league, in 124 games Jackie had an impressive batting average of .349 and stole 40
bases. Since Jackie performed so well for the Montreal Royals in 1946, it helped him
earn a quick promotion to the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1947 season. Once Jackie
made it to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 that is where he would stay at for the
remainder of his career as a professional baseball player. Jackie’s first two years
with the Brooklyn Dodgers he batted .297 and .296, for the next six seasons he
batted over .300, then for his last two season he batted below .300 (Jackie). His hard
work and success on the field proved to everyone that he belonged in professional
baseball with white baseball players. By ignoring and resisting to fight back to all
the racial slurs and racism that was thrown at him he showed other African
American players that even though it was tough to be done that they could also do it
and have the chance to play professional baseball in the white mans league.
Jackie was one of the most iconic and influential baseball players in history
because of his success on the field and the outlook he had on baseball and life in
general. Jackie once said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other
lives.” (Kahn). Sports movies are very popular in today’s world and can help people
learn about or experience things that have happened in sports in the past (Kennedy
pg. 33). In 2013, Warner Bros produced the movie 42, which told the story of an
African American baseball player by the name of Jackie Robinson who broke the
color barrier in professional baseball. 42 was about Jackie’s baseball career, it left
out what had happened prior to him playing baseball, it started with him playing in
the Negro Leagues and continued through his baseball career with the Brooklyn
Dodgers. It showed all of his success on the field but it also showed all of the
hardships of racism that he went through on and off the field. My favorite part of
the movie was when Pee Wee Reese put his arm around Jackie before a game and
said thank you to Jackie showing him his support and said, “maybe one day we’ll all
Along with sports movies, sports magazines are very popular with sports
fans around the world (Kennedy pg. 95). One of the most popular sports magazines
is Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated covers a variety of different sports and has
many articles in it that are related to sports and athletes. These articles can talk
about many different things such as something an athlete has done or accomplished,
a story of what an athlete has gone through, and much more. Jackie Robinson has
been featured in Sports Illustrated many times, with the articles covering many
different things about Jackie’s life and what he went through and did for the game of
baseball.
doesn’t matter what sport you like, you can be intrigued by any type of sports
museum (Kennedy pg. 135). Not every athlete will make it into a sports museum;
athletes who make it into sports museums are seen as some of the greatest players
in their sport. Athletes who make it in usually had outstanding careers and had
great success in their sport by producing stats that exceeded the average player.
Sports museums show the history of the player and all of the accomplishments they
had during their professional career. Jackie Robinson was one of those athletes who
made it into a baseball museum; he in fact made it into two baseball museums, the
Negro Leagues Baseball museum and the Baseball Hall Of Fame. He was able to do
so because of his success on the field and also everything he went through with
country and it will be shown in all sports. I believe that what Jackie Robinson and
Branch Ricky did for baseball by breaking the color barrier will always be
remembered as one of the most iconic things in sports history. It showed that
people should forget about race because everyone should have equal rights when
doing something because we’re all humans no matter what our skin color is. I think
that when people start to question racial equality it would be a good thing for them
to look back on the positive impact Jackie Robinson had on sports and this country
sabr.org/bioproj/person/bb9e2490.
Oshinsky, David. “The Man Who Hired Jackie Robinson.” The New York Times,
Kahn, Roger. “Jackie Robinson.” Baseball Hall of Fame, National Baseball Hall
of Fame, baseballhall.org/hof/robinson-jackie.
“Jackie Robinson Negro & Minor Leagues Statistics & History.” Baseball-
Robinson, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and Kansas State University College of
state.edu/annex/nlbemuseum/history/players/robinsonj.html.
Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. Sport, Media and Society. Berg Editorial
Offices, 2009.