Jackie Robinson

Final Project
Adam Zane

Jackie
Robinson
A life is not important except in
the impact it has on other lives.
I'm not concerned with your
liking or disliking me... All I ask is
that you respect me as a human
being.
Baseball is like a poker game.
Nobody wants to quit when he's
losing; nobody wants you to quit
when you're ahead.

Early Life
Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo
Georgia. Jackie was the youngest of all 5 of his siblings.
And at just one years old his father had left him and his
family. After his father left them Jackies mother moves the
family to Pasadena, California. His mother had worked a
variety of different jobs to make sure that Jackie and the
rest of his siblings were taken care of. When Jackie was
very young, him and his new neighbors in Pasadena had
been excluded from all sorts of different activities. Jackie
felt that he had no other choice but to join a neighborhood
gang. After being in the gang for a little while his good
friend Carl Andersen persuaded him to get out of it and to
pursue better things in life.

Schooling and Early

Athletics
After Graduating from Washington Junior high school in 1935, Jackie enrolled at John Muir High School.
After enrolling into high school, his older brothers saw his athletic ability at told him to pursue athletics.
And thats exactly what Jackie did. Jackie played five sports at the varsity level. He played baseball,
football, track, tennis, and basketball. And not only did he play, he lettered in all athletics. Jackie went
on to win the junior boys singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament.
Then went on and earned a place on the Pomona annual baseball tournament all-star team, which
included future baseball hall of famers like Ted Williams and Bob Lemon. After high school Jackie took
his talents to Pasadena Junior College. Where he continued to play four sports, basketball, baseball,
football, and track. Jackie went on to break to schools record broad jump, which was previously held by
his brother Mack. In 1938, Jackie was named the Most Valuable Player for his entire region in baseball.
Towards the end of his run at the junior college, his closest brother Frank Robinson, was killed in a
devastating motorcycle accident. And instead of using this in a negative way, this made Jackie really
want to pursue his baseball career. He used his brothers death as motivation to be the best baseball
player he could be. Robinson then took his talents to UCLA to further his athletic career. While
attending UCLA, Jackie was the first person to ever letter in four sports. Which is quite the
accomplishment. Jackies was one of four African Americans on the entire football team. And all four
were the top players on the team. Ironically enough, baseball was Jackies worst sport while attending
UCLA. He hit a whopping .093 in his first season there. That is horrendous. His senior year at UCLA, he
met his then future wife Rachel Isum, who was found of Jackie from his athletic career at the junior
college. Jackie never graduated from UCLA, he took a job right before he was about to graduate as an
assistant athletic director at the National Youth Association.

Military Life
In 1942, Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Kansas. Robinson was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1943.
After receiving his commission, Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas. Where he joined the
761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion.
One time while Robinson was getting on the bus to go to Fort Hood, the bus driver demanded that
Jackie sit in the back of the bus. And of course Jackie refused to do so. Jackie was taken into custody for
doing so. After telling the officer that there was racial discrimination going on, he demanded that Jackie
be court martialed. Jackies commander refused to take legal action and Jackie was then moved to 758 th
Battalion, then his commander decided to charge Jackie with a variety of different offenses. One being
intoxicated in public, even though Jackie did not even drink alcohol. By the time the court martial date
appeared, the charges had been dropped to two accounts of insubordination during questioning. His
former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to get called for action in World
War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings prohibited him from being overseas, which led to Jackie
never seeing any actual war combat.
Jackie then left the army and returned to his former football team The Bulldogs in Cali. He took a job as
a athletic director.

Negro Leagues
Jackie joined the Negro Leagues in 1945. He accepted a contract to play ball
for $400 dollars a month. That is incredible. Robinson wasnt very fond of how
the negro leagues worked because he was so used to the college game, it
was a lot different. Also with the crazy schedule that he had, he wasnt able
to be in touch with his then wife. He could only contact her via a letter. Which
he wasnt happy about. It was taking a toll on their relationship. Robinson was
very successful in the Negro Leagues however, and did gain some interest
from major league teams. One being the Boston Red Sox. They held a tryout
at Fenway park which Jackie attended, but left humiliated after their were a
bunch of racial epithets. But there were other teams who did have interest in
signing an African American ball player. Branch Rickey, who was general
manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers selected Jackie and a few others from the
negro league to have an interview for a spot on the roster. After a long
discussion Ricky kept asking Jackie if he would be brave enough to take the
racial abuse that was going to be directed towards him if he did end up
signing him, and Jackie being hesitant at first, decided to take the deal for
$700 a month and was officially on the roster.

Minor and Major League

Minor League

Robinson arrived for spring training with the

Montreal Royals, which was a AAA team. Just
one league below the Major leagues. Racial
segregation was a big thing in Florida then, and
Jackie wasnt even allowed to stay in the same
hotel as his teammates. I cant imagine how
difficult that would be. Jackie and another black
teammate who was signed named Johnny
Wright, weren't allowed at most facilities.
Jackie was finally able to play in a game on
March 17, 1946. Where he made his minor
league debut. Robinson then became the first
black player to openly play for a minor league
team against a major league team since the De
Facto baseball color line had been
implemented in the 1880s. Robinsons minor
league career took off after that, and
proceeded to put up amazing numbers.
Robinson proceeded to lead the International
League that season with a .349 batting
average and .985 fielding percentage. Which is
far above average.

Major League

Jackie made history on April 15, 1957. Breaking

the color barrier after the Dodgers called him
up to the major leagues. Jackie breaking the
color barrier caused a lot of mixed emotions
throughout the entire world. Some of his own
teammates said they would rather sit out than
to play with Jackie. But the manager refused to
sit Jackie. Jackie received a variety of different
racial attacks throughout his first season. A lot
of players from different teams would use
racial slurs, and often threaten to strike him.
The commissioner of the league heard about
the threats and ordered anyone who did
threaten to strike Jackie would be suspended.
Jackie went on to finish his rookie year with a
batting average at right about .300. Which is
very good. He also led the league in stolen
bases. Based of his accomplishments in his first
year as a professional, Jackie was honored the
Rookie of the Year trophy.

Major League Career

In 1948, racial pressure started to ease off of Jackie. As
other African Americans were now called up into the
Majors. Jackie had to go through off season surgery on
his messed up ankle, and during the off season had
gained a lot of weight. He showed up to training camp
30 pounds over weight. In the spring of 1949, Robinson
turned to Hall of Famer George Sisler who helped
Jackie spend countless hours putting work into his
craft. He helped Robinson raise his batting average
from .296 in 1948 to .342 in 1949. A major
improvement. Robinson put up historically great
numbers at the time in the year 1949. And was
rewarded the National League Most Valuable Player. Of
course being the first African American to do so. He
was also selected by the fans to start in the All Star
game that year, and to Jackie, that was a very big
honor. In 1951, Jackies Dodgers won the national
league pennant but ended up losing to the New York
Yankees in the world series. Robinsons continued
success in the major leagues year after year spawned
a string of death threats. He received them via letter
or in person. That did not stop Robison from playing
baseball, in 1954 he won his only championship when
his Dodgers finally got past the Yankees in the world
series. In 1956, Jackie was diagnosed with diabetes
and that was his last year playing baseball
professionally.

Legacy and After Life

Legacy

Jackie Robinsons legacy will

forever be cemented in baseball.
Breaking the color barrier was an
amazing accomplishment and to
this day he is celebrated in
baseball. Robinson redefined how
the game was to be played. He
showed that no matter what people
throw at you, you can still
accomplish anything and do what
you love. Jackie represents
happiness and the good life. He
went through so much throughout
his child hood, but nothing stopped
him of fulfilling his dreams. He is an
inspiration to everyone throughout
the entire world.

Death

Complications of heart disease and

diabetes cut Robinsons amazing life
short. Robinson passed away from
a heart attack on October 24th 1972
in his home in Connecticut. 2,500+
people attended Robinsons funeral
on October 27TH. Many being his
former teammates and other
baseball players throughout the
world. Jackie was buried in New
York, where he is buried next to his
son Jackie and mother-in-law Zellee
Isum.

The End
RIP JACKIE ROBINSON
January 31, 1919 - October 24th 1972
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson
http://www.biography.com/people/jackie-robins
on9460813
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/jack
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http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/
Jackie_Robinson.aspx