Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century. Born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919, he grew up in Pasadena, California, and was an outstanding high school and collegiate athlete in track and field, basketball, football, and baseball. He became a national football star at UCLA before being drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, and he continued playing sports in the military despite many obstacles brought by segregation. Honorably discharged in 1945, he returned to baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues and played his first regular season home game with the Monarchs on May 6, 1945. His solid play during the grueling Negro Leagues season caught the eye of scouts from the Brooklyn Dodgers in Major League Baseball. Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey had decided a few years before to find the right player to break baseball's long standing color barrier, and the 26-year-old Robinson was chosen over more famous black baseball stars and signed to a minor league contract at the end of the 1945 season. He took the field with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, in a moment that changed America's National Pastime and America too. His outstanding first season earned him inaugural Rookie of the Year honors, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, and he helped lead the Dodgers to a World Series title in 1955. His barrier-breaking role opened the door for other talented African American and Latin players to play in Major League Baseball. Robinson played 10 years with the Dodgers and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Kansas City, Missouri · United States