Major League Baseball Owners

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL OWNERS banned African-American ballplayers from the league in the beginning of the 20th century. But in 1947, the barrier came tumbling down.

Two years earlier, on August 28, 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson off the roster of the Kansas City Monarchs, one of America’s top Negro League teams. Rickey believed the Georgia native, who grew up in California and played football at UCLA, possessed the intelligence, skill, and demeanor to integrate baseball. Robinson spent 1946 with the Dodgers’ top minor league club in Montreal.

Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher named Jackie the starting first baseman for the Dodgers as spring training concluded in 1947. In the season’s opening game, the Dodgers hosted the Boston Braves. More than 26,000 fans passed through the Ebbets Field turnstiles to watch the 28-year-old rookie start at first base.

Although Robinson went hitless in three official at bats, his blazing speed turned a routine play into a Dodgers victory. With Eddie Stanky on first, Robinson bunted. Braves first baseman Earl Torgeson fielded the ball and made a wild throw, allowing Robinson to reach base and advancing Robinson and Stanky to second and third. Both players scored on Pete Reiser’s double to claim a 5–3 victory.

That season, Jackie Robinson played in more games than any other Dodger. He hit .297 and tied for the team lead in homers. He doubled the number of stolen bases of any other competitor in the league with 29. Baseball honored him as Rookie of the Year, an award later named for him.

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POINT Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color barrier before President Harry S. Truman integrated the armed services, or the famous Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision integrated public schools. The choices made by Rickey, Durocher, and Robinson were right, but they weren’t easy.

Prejudiced whites hurled abuses at Jackie and the rest of team. Opponents threatened to boycott the Dodgers. But in the end, the team’s courageous stand united Negro League baseball with the previously all-white American and National Leagues.

The heavenly Father loves every person of every race. There’s no room for color barriers in his kingdom.

GOAL! Search the Internet for information about Jackie Robinson and Black History Month. Thank God for courageous people who do what’s right. Ask God to show you any prejudices in your heart; then ask him to help you overcome them.