In this post, I celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, a day set aside annually by Major League Baseball to remember and honor the Hall of Fame player who broke MLB’s color barrier on April 15, 1947. I also look at those who were the first black people to play in the other major professional sports leagues.

Jackie Robinson made his major league debut on April 15, 1947, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers and ending a decades-old “behind the scenes” unofficial yet all-too-effective agreement among major league executives and team owners to ban black people from having the opportunity to play major league baseball.

Robinson’s story is well-told. He followed the instructions given to him by Dodger executive Branch Rickey, that he was to ignore the racial abuse hurled upon him and turn the other cheek. Rickey knew that should Jackie defend himself the result would likely have been fights on the field and rioting in the stands. Neither would be good for Rickey’s efforts to end the unofficial ban on black players.

Jackie, as we know, showed tremendous restraint and let the quality of his play speak for itself. Over an 11-year career – the first season played for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 but counted today as major league service – Robinson compiled an impressive .313 batting average with 1,563 hits, 972 runs, 761 runs batted in, 141 homeruns, and 200 stolen bases. He was Rookie of the Year in 1947, National League batting champion and Most Valuable Player in 1949, and a seven-time All-Star. His Dodgers won the World Series in 1955 and Jackie was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

More importantly, he is remembered for his dedication to the nonviolent struggle for equal rights. His widow, Rachel Robinson and their family have continued to highlight his ideals since his passing at age 53 in 1972. Rachel Robinson is now 103 years old and remains an honored figure in civil rights leadership.

We must also remember and honor Larry Doby, the first black person to break the color barrier in the American League on July 5, 1947, playing for the Cleveland Indians, and team owner Bill Veeck who signed him. Doby faced the same prejudice, hate, and abuse that Robinson experienced in the National League and should always be acknowledged for his important place in our history.

A nine-time All-Star and a 1948 World Series Champion, Doby batted .288 with 1,697 hits, 273 homeruns, 1,080 runs scored, and 1,099 runs batted in over a 17-year career (including four-and-a-half years with the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues). He also managed the Chicago White Sox in 1978. Doby was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. 

The first black player in the National Basketball Association was Earl Lloyd in 1950, who was followed soon thereafter by Chuck Cooper and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton. With the color barrier already broken in major league baseball, black NBA players did not suffer the same level of tension and hate as Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby did. That vitriol, though, was far from being erased.

The first black player to take the ice in the National Hockey League was Willie O’Ree in 1958 with the Boston Bruins. That’s noteworthy, since the Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate when Pumpsie Green joined the team in 1959.

Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first black people in the National Football League; however, subsequent black players Kenny Washington and Woody Strode did not play in the NFL until 1946.

So, as you enjoy watching these major sports leagues compete with players based upon their ability rather than skin color, be sure to thank Robinson, Doby, Rickey, Veeck, and the other trailblazers mentioned here.

And, Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

REMEMBER

◊ Among Jackie Robinson’s great quotes were the following: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives…The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time…I speak to you only as an American who happens to be an American Negro and one who is proud of that heritage. We ask for nothing special. We ask only that we be permitted to compete on an even basis, and if we are not worthy, then the competition shall, per se, eliminate us.”¹

◊ “Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports,” said Branch Rickey, “and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.”²

◊ “I knew being accepted was going to be hard,” said Larry Doby, “but I knew I was involved in a situation that was going to bring opportunities to other black people.”³

◊ Welday Walker played in five games for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884, getting four hits and batting .222. His brother, Moses Fleetwood Walker, appeared in 42 games, hitting .261 and scoring 23 runs. It wasn’t the Walker brothers’ statistics that were important, though, it was the color of their skin. More than 60 years before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, Moses Fleetwood Walker was known as the first African American to play major league ball. That designation was challenged by research conducted by the Society for Baseball Research (SABR) that found William Edward White may have been the first black player. White appeared in one game for the Providence Grays in 1879. White’s father, though, was white and his mother was of mixed-race. His race was listed as white in the 1880 census, although he may have been masquerading as a white man to avoid the racism of that time.⁴

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1. Robinson, Jackie, Brainy Quote, https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jackie-robinson-quotes ↩︎
2. Rickey, Branch, Brainy Quote, https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/branch-rickey-quotes ↩︎
3. Doby, Larry, Brainy Quote, https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/larry-doby-quotes ↩︎
4. Jolley, David A., A Good Cup of Coffee…Short-Time Major Leaguers & Their Claims to Fame, ©2011, David A. Jolley Publishing, p. 20. ↩︎