Реферат: Blacks In Baseball Essay Research Paper Jackie

(”Robinson, Jackie”). While Robinson was with the Royals, he was he was an athletic standout with

a lot of talent for playing professional baseball (Hill 1). He enjoyed playing on the Montreal Royals

because race was not really an issue in Canada and he was very popular all over the country

(”Robinson, Jackie”). He led the Royals to the minor league championship (Rydell 86).

The next season Robinson got moved up to the Los Angeles Dodgers professional team late in

spring training, only five days before the Dodgers first game (86). This gave the critics not much time

to react to the new player in the league (86). On April 15, 1947 Jackie became the first black

player to play major league baseball in the United States (87). Robinson’s moving to the team

caused national outrage between coaches, teams, and fans (87). His new teammates signed a

petition to get him off the team just because he was black (Ward, Burns 283). The general

managers and head coaches of the Dodgers including Branch Rickey and Pee Wee Reese kept him

on the team and encouraged him to stay and ignore the racial slurs and name calling (Ward, Burns

283). Other teams tried to boycott, but it did not work (Rydell 86). Robinsons first games were the

hardest (86). He had many death threats made against him (”Robinson, Jackie”). The hotels that

Robinson went to with the team would not serve him because blacks were not allowed (”Robinson,

Jackie”). Even though he would not get served at restaurants and hotels, he always kept his

composier and never lost his temper (Ward, Burns 283). Robinson was always called names but he

just ignored them and took a non-violent approach to the situation (”Robinson, Jackie).

After many games Robinson started winning the respect of his fellow teammates, other teams, and

fans by not fighting back (Rydell 86). Not only was Robinson the only black player in the major

leagues, but he was also one of the best. Stadiums filled with record numbers of fans came to watch

him play baseball (Hill 2). By the end of his first year, he was a major league superstar (1).

Robinson led the majors in stolen bases and was second in scored runs (1). He was voted Rookie

of the Year for the 1948 season (2).

Robinson had a very successful baseball career. He proved all of his critics wrong, they said Rickey

only wanted him because he was black and not how well he could play baseball (Rydell 87). He

proved his critics wrong the very first game he played with the LA Dodgers(87). He had four hits,

including one homerun and two stolen bases (87). After his spectacular first game Robinson started

getting death threats, but ignored them and he kept on playing (Hill 1).