60 years ago tomorrow

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The America of 1947 wasn't a great place for black America. Blacks couldn't vote, stay in most hotels, eat in most resteraunts, go to public schools, ride in the front of the bus, go to most hospitals, or a host of other activities we consider normal now. The US Armed Forces were still segregated. And baseball, national pastime, was also segregated. In the America of 1947, baseball nearly was professional sports. The NFL was less popular than college football. The NBA was in its first year. Hockey, yes hockey, was the second most popular professional team sport. Pretty much all of America that followed sports at all, followed baseball.

Into this lilly white world came Jackie Robinson. Truth be known I literally can't imagine professional sports without African Americans. I just can't. Baseball without Hank Arron, David Justice, Ken Griffey Jr, or even Barry Bonds is just too alien for me to concieve. The NBA without Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlin, or Shaq give me a break. The NFL without Jerry Rice, Ickey Woods, or Donivan McNabb, oh please. But for people of that era, professional sports were a whites only affair. Jackie Robinson was the first. He faced down bigots both on and off the field. His grace and dignity not to mention his skill paved the way for generations of African American athletes. The America of 1947 is gladly relegated to the history books. Jackie Robinson helped make it so. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. Especially those of us who literally can't imagine a world without African Americans in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools because that is always the way it was.

[Elwood P Dowd]

1. I remember watching him play on television

when on a few occasions the TV-owning neighbors invited us over to watch their new toy. There were also those black and white sports reels at the movies back in those days (early-mid 1950s). Didn't he steal home against the Yankees in a World Series game?

[senseandsensibility]

2. Very important part of American history

and race relations. Thanks for posting. Keith did a piece on this last night, and interviewed a sportswriter who covered Jackie Robinson.

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5. It was a perfect story for Keith to do

and the interview was fantastic.

[senseandsensibility]

7. Yes, Keith is the ultimate sports journalist

as well as a great political commentator.:hi:

[malaise]

3. Jackie the pioneer

My dad loved him. Great thread.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Kenesaw Mountain Landis

He was the first ever baseball commisioner and he systematically kept African-Americans out of baseball. People like Josh Gibson, Buck O'Neill, Judy Johnson, Satchel Paige, and so on. So therefore, in my opinion, Landis should not be in the HoF. Yeah, I know he "brought baseball back" after the Black Sox scandal. But he was an unrepentant bigot. Thank goodness for Happy Chandler and Branch Rickey.
And I cannot imagine any sports without blacks in them either. In fact, one of my favorite baseball players ever is Mister Cub, Ernie Banks, and when we were kids, I tried (unsuccessfully) to emulate Ernie Banks at bat and in the field. The greatest basketball player ever? Well that's highly debatable, but I bet 99% of the people asked would say a black man's name. And so on. Thank you to Jackie Robinson, a war veteran and a commisioned officer in the U.S. Military, as well as a great ballplayer and civil rights activist.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this post. But I've always liked Jackie Robinson and been fascinated by the Negro Leagues.

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6. My dad used to watch the Homestead Braves as a kid

He even got to sit in the dugout. He met all of the AA greats.

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. I remember Dizzy Dean constantly praising Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson

during his radio and TV days. The old saturday Game Of The Week was a blast listening to Ole' Diz and his stories. Diz once told the story about a Negro Leagues player that was so fast, he could flip the light switch and jump in bed before the light turned off.

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. The greatest baseball player I ever saw in person

was Willie Mays. He could hit, hit for power, steal bases, and was one of the best defensive outfielders in the history of the game. It's a shame that he, and many others (Mickey Mantle for example), kept playing well past their prime when their skills were so deteriorated.

[frogcycle]

12. Jackie does not get the recognition he so richly deserves

Sure, there have been many, many pioneers, Rosa Parks being one who typically comes first to mind. What she did was brave, and history making. Jackie, though, entered the big league eight years earlier, as essentially the first African American to "break through" anywhere. And he had to live with the reaction to his presence day after day, on the field and off, for years. And he did it with class.

Of course many have suffered even worse, including lynchings, bombings, and many, many people have lived with various manifestations of overt racism for their entire lives. But the length of time he dealt with stuff on a daily basis, while living "in the white man's world" - enemy territory, if you will, is truly awe-inspiring. Jackie not only "paved the way" for black athletes, he paved the way for the civil rights bill, the voting rights act, Dr. King...

He may have been "just playing a game," but he influenced the course of American history - much to the good.

A true American hero.

[senseandsensibility]

9. C'mon... one more vote for the greatest page!

Let's do it for Jackie.

[William769]

10. And yet today we still have the likes of Imus.

And people here who try to defend him! Go figure. :eyes:

[frogcycle]

14. damn, did ANYONE try to defend imess?

I saw and heard a plethora of people rationalizing that others say bad crap too, and rationalizing that rappers say it, etc. Did anyone actually defend him though, as in saying it was an ok thing to say?

[Martin Eden]

13. Jackie Robinson was a man.

Jackie Robinson was a man, a human being, and a great baseball player.

By being what he was and doing it in the face of a society that wanted to deny what he was, he struck a major blow for human beings everywhere and for that society.

[Elwood P Dowd]

15. Jackie Robinson played himself in the movie

"The Jackie Robinson Story". I found it in my stash of old VHS tapes.

One last kick for Jackie.

:kick: