Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers' first baseman, is shown at Ebbets Field, April 11, 1947. (AP Photo)
CELEBRATING JACKIE ROBINSON DAY
The Associated Press
Players across the majors will don Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 — and all of them in Dodger blue this year — for the 75th anniversary of Robinson’s big league debut.
The Dodgers, of course, will be at home in Los Angeles, facing the Cincinnati Reds. They’ll be joined by Robinson’s 99-year-old widow, Rachel, and her son David.
Earlier in the day, David Robinson will read the book “I Am Jackie Robinson” at Longfellow Elementary School in Pasadena, California, where Robinson grew up. He’ll be joined by Robinson’s granddaughter, Ayo, pitcher David Price and Players Alliance founders Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.
Outfielder Mookie Betts will join the Robinson family at nearby John Muir High for the unveiling of a mural of Robinson. He starred in football, basketball, baseball and track at the Pasadena school in the 1930s.
Jackie Robinson, first African American to ever be admitted into the major leagues, photographed right after he signed his contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Dodgers office, April 10, 1947. (AP Photo)In this Sept. 23, 1947, photo, Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player Jackie Robinson, right, receives the keys to a car from tap dancer Bill Bojangles Robinson as Jackie Robinson’s wife, Rachel, looks on at Ebbets Field in New York. The car was presented to Robinson in celebration of the team winning the National League championship. A rare jersey from Jackie Robinson’s historic rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers 70 years ago could be available for someone with a few spare millions. The jersey, part of a Heroes of Sports offering by Heritage Auctions, has been certified by Mears, one of the top memorabilia authentication companies. It is accompanied by a letter from Robinson’s widow, Rachel, saying it is the one brought home by the Hall of Famer at the end of the 1947 season, when he became the first black player in the majors and earned Rookie of the Year honors. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)Young guests surround Brooklyn Dodgers’ second baseman Jackie Robinson and his son Jackie Jr. as they light candles on his birthday cake for his third birthday party in St. Albans in the Queens section of New York, Nov. 18, 1949. Jackie Sr. was also named Most Valuable Player in the National League today. At left is Rachel Robinson, the baseball star’s wife, and at right is Sarah Satlow, his secretary. Other children are unidentified. (AP Photo/John Rooney)Former baseball star Jackie Robinson grabbed a sign and joined a picket line in Cleveland, Ohio, to protest discrimination against blacks at southern lunch counters, 1960. The picketing was organized by the N.A.A.C.P. (AP Photo)This March 4, 1946, photo shows Jackie Robinson of the Montreal Royals baseball team, in Sanford, Fla. All players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear No. 42 on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, marking the anniversary of the date the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer made his Major League Baseball debut and broke the sport’s color barrier in 1947. (AP Photo/Bill Chaplis)Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodger infielder, and his wife sample tempura with chopsticks during a reception in Tokyo on Oct. 18, 1956. Earlier in the day, the Robinsons and other Brooklyn Dodger players arrived in Tokyo for a four-week exhibition tour. The visitors dropped the opener of 20-game tour, 5-4, in Tokyo on the day following their arrival. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson, signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and assigned to the Montreal Club, holds hands with his bride, the former Rachel Isum in Los Angeles, Feb. 26, 1946. The couple disclosed in Los Angeles that they were married Feb. 10, 1946. (AP Photo/Ed Widdis)Fans walk past mural of Jackie Robinson before the Tulsa Drillers minor league baseball season opener against the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP)An April 18, 1948 portrait of Brooklyn Dodgers’ infielder Jackie Robinson. (AP PHoto/stf)Jackie Robinson, first African American to ever be admitted into the major leagues, photographed right after he signed his contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Dodgers office, April 10, 1947. (AP Photo)A jersey of Jackie Robinson is displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, commemorating the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s integration of Major League Baseball, Thursday, April 7, 2022. Robinson became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball breaking the baseball color barrier on April 15, 1947, when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodger second baseman, and his wife, view an action picture of the ball player in New York on Nov. 17, 1949. Robinson was named most valuable player in the National League on the basis of his 1949 record. Robinson, first member of the African American race to win this honor in modern major league baseball, polled 12 of 24 firsts, in the competition conducted by 24 members of the Baseball Writers Association, three from each major league city. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers star since breaking into Major League baseball in 1947, is shown with his wife, Rachel, and their four-year-old son, Jackie Jr., in their home in Stamford, Conn., Dec. 13, 1956. Robinson, 37, holds a banner for the rival New York Giants baseball club to which he was traded for relief pitcher Dick Littlefield and $35,000 in cash. Robinson retired in January, voiding the trade. (AP Photo/John Lindsay)Jackie Robinson, first African American baseball player to be signed by a major league club goes through some infield practice March 4, 1946 after reporting with the Montreal Royals of the International League in Sanford, Fla. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson, infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers, poses in May of 1952. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson and his wife, Rachel, pose in their Stamford, CT , home January 23, 1962, after Jackie’s election into The Baseball Hall Of Fame. Robinson, the former Brooklyn Dodger infielder, had a lifetime batting average of .311. He was the first black player to play in the Major Leagues, and also the first black player to be voted into the Hall Of Fame. ( AP Photo/ Matty Zimmerman )Jackie Robinson’s wife and children gather close to help him blow out the candle on a cupcake as they celebrate the Brooklyn Dodgers infielder’s 35th birthday at home in St. Aldans, N.Y. on Jan. 31, 1954. From left are, Sharon, 4; Jackie, with David, 20 months, on his knee; his wife, Rachel; and Jackie Jr., 7. (AP Photo)The two interested spectators at the shooting of “The Jackie Robinson Story,” are Rachel Robinson, the baseball legend’s wife, and son Jackie Jr., age 2, seen in Hollywood, Calif., Feb. 20, 1950. In the background is actor Dick Lane who plays the part of the manager of the Montreal team. (AP Photo/Frank Filan)Jackie Robinson, of the Montreal Royals looks over a roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers players at Havana, Cuba on Feb. 27, 1947, where he is training with the Royals, a Brooklyn Dodger farm club. Robinson is aiming for a major league spot with the Dodgers. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson talks to his son, Jackie Robinson Jr., during a scene change for the “Jackie Robinson Story”, Feb. 20, 1950. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers’ first baseman, is shown at Ebbets Field, April 11, 1947. (AP Photo)Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers infielder, makes his debut as a sportscaster for radio station WMCA in New York, November 15, 1948. Robinson will do a six-nights-a-week program which is sponsored. (AP Photo)Brooklyn Dodgers’ second baseman Jackie Robinson poses on May 17, 1952. (AP Photo )
JACKIE ROBINSON’S LEGACY LIVES ON
Baseball players of Black African descent were excluded from Major League Baseball until 1947. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. By the late 1950s, the percentage of black players on Major League teams matched or exceeded that of the general population.
In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams; he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored. After baseball, Robinson became heavily involved working for the NAACP, campaigning for civil rights. Robinson worked with President Richard Nixon and the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller.
Jackie Robinson Day occurs annually on April 15 in Major League Baseball (MLB), commemorating and honoring the day Jackie Robinson made his major league debut. April 15 was Opening Day in 1947, Robinson’s first season in the major leagues.
Initiated for the first time on April 15, 2004, the festivity is a result of Robinson’s memorable career, best known for becoming the first black major league baseball player of the modern era in 1947.
His debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers) ended approximately 80 years of baseball segregation, also known as the baseball color line, or color barrier. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
