The game of baseball has been blessed with no shortage of stars over the years. There are the modern day stars such as Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna and many others. You have the immortals like Ruth, Mantle, Mays and Ted Williams. There are even the stars who are known for things baseball wishes they could brush over in the league’s storied history. We’re talking about the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Chick Gandil and the rest of the 1919 White Sox.
Now all the names above changed the game in one way or another. Ruth put baseball on the map. He became, and still is, one of the most well known names not only in American folklore, but worldwide as well. Mantle, Mays and Williams all helped put baseball back on the map after the tumultuous years following the second World War. They were heroes to American kids everywhere. Today, we have Mike Trout, a generational talent that honestly doesn’t get the exposure he really deserves for how absolutely astonishing his career has been thus far.
Each year baseball adds a few new names to their list of stars. The ever-growing list who will be forever enshrined in the walls that hold baseball history in Cooperstown, NY. Whether they end up with a plaque on the wall or just a jersey on display from a historic game, baseball will never be short on names to remember for fans.
While all those names changed the game of baseball, there has been one that changed the game in the most profound way since the leagues inception back in 1869. One man has stood above the rest. Not because he had more talent than everyone else or because he won more MVP’s or World Series. No, this man has withstood the test of time because he turned baseball into a game of equal opportunity. He took a league that was riddled with racism and prejudice and opened the doors for players from various ethnic and racial backgrounds.
That man is, of course, Jack Roosevelt Robinson who on April 15, 1947 stepped out onto Ebbets Field and broke the MLB color barrier which had plagued the game for decades. While Jackie’s debut would result in an 0-3 day at the plate, he had ultimately changed the game of baseball forever. African American players would soon be making their way onto Major League rosters all over the league.
That same season, another player, who is often overlooked for his role in breaking the color barrier made his debut for the Cleveland Indians of the American League. That man was Larry Doby. Doby was signed just months after Robinson made his debut by the legendary MLB executive and owner, Bill Veeck.
Both Robinson and Doby had been found while scouting the ultra talented Negro Leagues which were around during that era.
Jackie endured unheard of hardships for professional baseball players of that time. Whether it was being forced to stay at different hotels or eat at separate restaurants, Jackie knew that what he was doing was bigger than just himself. He was paving the way for black players to have a spot on MLB rosters for the rest of time.
As a baseball fan, I always find it interesting to look at a roster sheet whether it be stuck inside a program at a game or simply on a team’s website and seeing the diversity of MLB rosters. Players from all over the world have found their way onto professional rosters and that opportunity can all be traced back to one day in 1947. Had it not been for Branch Rickey who decided to upset the system and sign the first African-American ballplayer, there is no way to know how long the racial barrier might have gone on.
It is always intriguing to think what could have been if not for the barrier. What MLB record books would look like if Josh Gibson had ever made it onto a professional roster. Legend has it he was known as the Black Babe Ruth, hitting towering home runs that some story tellers would say never landed.
What if Leroy Satchel Paige, who was said to lift his leg so high in his wind up that his foot would block out the sun had been able to pitch a full career in Major League Baseball. Would we still be touting the likes of Nolan Ryan as the strikeout king?
How about if James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell had been allowed to show his blazing speed on the base paths of Old Yankee Stadium or Ebbets Field? Cool Papa was said to be so fast he could flip the light switch in a hotel room and be in bed before it was dark. While that folk tale was formed due to some faulty electrical wiring and a delay in the lights going out he was still known as one of the fastest players to ever play.
Unfortunately, the sad fact is the color barrier robbed us from witnessing so many legendary players prime years. There is no doubt they would have rewritten record books and made their marks on the history of the game. Despite never putting on a MLB uniform, you can still find many of the Negro League’s legends enshrined at Cooperstown. It is only right they are put among the players that they belong with.
Each year, on April 15th players across the league join in solidarity to celebrate the life, and career, of Jack Roosevelt Robinson. A man who is so much bigger than the game of baseball. A man who took a whole group and put them on his back to carry them over the barrier that was baseball prejudice up until that season. And although some teams did not employ their first black player for years after Jackie’s debut, his impact had been made and the game we know as America’s pastime was changed for the better.
There is no question that Jackie made the game better. Not only for players, but also for fans of the game. He opened the floodgates which would allow fans to see some of the best talent in the world when it came to the game of baseball with no regards to the color of their skin, religion that they believed in or political ideals that they followed.
One of the best descriptions of baseball, in my mind, came from the movie “42” which tells the story of Jackie’s journey to becoming the first African-American baseball player. The quote says this, “Baseball was proof positive that democracy was real. A baseball box score after all, is a democratic thing. It doesn’t say how big you are, or what religion you follow it does not know how you voted, or the color of your skin, it simply states what kind of ballplayer you were on any particular day.”
So, on today of all days, let’s raise our glasses to the man who was brave enough to do what most of us would never dream of, changing the world. This one is to you, Jackie Robinson. Thank you for making our national pastime what it is today.
The Tenth Inning 