Jackie Robinson : Breaking The Color Line

Like the bald eagle, baseball has become an icon for the term “American”. It was the nation’s first major sport and quickly was coined America’s pastime. It was created from a combination of other games during the 1840’s and became increasingly popular during the years of the Civil War (Brinkley 392). In their

Have you ever wondered what Jackie Robinson had to go through. Jackie Robinson was the first African American player in baseball. Jackie Robinson had the hardest life to go through to get to his dream. The color barrier in professional baseball was broken in 1947.

Before Jackie Robinson came around the only people that were allowed to play baseball were white people. In the text it states “ Today you may not be surprised to see an African-American or latino player when you turn the tv to major league baseball.” The Major League Baseball Association has benefited from Jackie Robinson’s bravery.

On January 31, 1919, a game changer was born. Changing the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB) forever. Jackie Robinson inspired many people with all he did within his time. He paved the way for many African American athletes that followed him and he changed the way other thought about segregation in professional athletics. Jackie Robinson was a full-time second baseman on the Brooklyn Dodgers and he became the first African American to play in MLB.

In 1845, Alexander J. Cartwright, an amateur player, organized a club in NYC and set down rules that used features of an English sport called rounder. Then five years later, 50 baseball clubs had risen up in the US. New York owned 12 clubs of their own in the mid 1860’s. The team Cincinnati Red Stocking started to tour the country in 1869. Soon more and more clubs started to do the same. This lead to the formation of the National League in 1876 and the American League in 1900. In 1903 the first World Series was help and the Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh, Pirates. Some African American baseball players were denied from both leagues, so they would form their own clubs and two leagues. These two leagues were the Negro National League and

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,” said a great man named Jackie Robinson. ("Jackie Robinson." Baseball Hall of Fame. History.com, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.) Jackie Robinson was an African American who broke the color barrier in 1947. (web 2). Jackie Robinson was born in January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. (web 1). Jackie was the youngest out of 5 children, and raised by a single mother.(web 1). Later when he was forced to leave college, due to financial hardship, he moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to play semi-professional football which didn't last long because of WWII in America. (web 1). Branch Rickey was the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey was the man who wanted to break the barrier, and to do so he

“I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All i ask is that you respect me as a human being.” This quote illustrates that jackie just wanted to play baseball. He didn't care what league. Jackie was a professional baseball player. That is known for breaking the color barrier. Jackie had a lot of problems on and off the field he would be cleated thrown at and much more. Off the field he would receives death threats and the reports would try to instigate fights. Jackie robinson is a courageous and tough legend for breaking the color barrier.

Jackie Robinson is the story I am going to be writing about. It is about a black baseball player and he has just went into the World Series. He had broken the color barrier for his country and he knew he was going to get a lot of hate because of the color of his skin. Feng Ru was the Chinese man of aviation. He created planes for a living and that changed his home country because they can get around much easier. Melba Bee was a girl who had to walk 10 miles a day to get to class when there was a school right next to their house. However, that school was an all white school, so they were protesting. They sued the school and they later were able to get into the school.

The purpose of this study is to find out why the percentage of African-Americans playing in the MLB has been on a steady decline the past few decades. This percentage is dropping every year and there does not seem to be much of a change in the future. While the numbers of African-American professionals are much higher in football and basketball and not at risk of dropping soon, what is it that is making baseballs number slowly diminish.

The origins of baseball being created are still unknown. One of the biggest things in Baseball history was getting the African-Americans to play with the whites on the same field. Two of the biggest heroes of baseball was an African American named Jackie Robinson and a white man named Babe Ruth. Jackie was a player for the negro leagues and then took a chance on the Professional Baseball League and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, when Jackie joined he was spit on, talked about negatively, and usually it was caused by the white people and Jackie was a man who didnt care what anyone thought of him even when he got mad he would still control himself and from all that Jackie Robinson became one of the best Baseball legends.Babe Ruth was a player

The game of baseball, that most Americans seem to love, officially started on September 23, 1845 by the New York Knickerbockers. Before that time, there were some games that resembled it and that used the same concept that baseball does, such as cricket. Through the 271 years, there are some similarities in the game from then to now, however, the differences greatly outweigh the similarities.

You may have heard that a young man named Abner Doubleday invented the game known as baseball in Cooperstown, New York, during the summer of 1839. That story is not true, Doubleday was still at West Point in 1839, and he never claimed to have anything to do with baseball. In 1907, a special commission created by the sporting goods magnate and former major league player A.J. Spalding used flimsy evidence—namely the claims of one man, mining engineer Abner Graves—to come up with the Doubleday origin story. Really the origin of baseball is a lot more complicated than that. References to games resembling baseball in the United States date back to the 18th century. It’s most direct ancestors appear to be two english games.

This great game originated before the American Civil War and was originally called “rounders” (Michlich). It was nothing more than a simple and humble game that was played on fields across America. In 1871 the first professional baseball league was born but it wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century, until it became popular in large cities across America. As the sport grew the teams were divided into two leagues, the National and American and during the regular season, a team played only against other teams within its league (Michlich). The team with the most victories in each league was said to have won the "pennant” and the two pennant winners met after the end of the regular season in something called the World Series (Michlich).

                Baseball has been one of America’s favorite pastimes since the first league was formed, all the way to the present day. The first section in this research paper will explain some of the games baseball was based on, the places they are from, how they are played, and the people who came up with the game. In the second section, some of the leagues will be listed, with some of the teams, who established the league, and when they were established. In the third section, famous players in baseball history will be listed as well as the teams they played for, the position they played the most and was the best at, and how they affected the world. In the fourth and final section, Famous baseball teams will be listed, with the founders of the team, the year they were founded, and one of the star players. The writer hopes that the reader will learn many interesting facts while reading this research paper.

Baseball dates back to the 18th century. Many believe that a man by the name of Abner Doubleday, a Civil War Hero, drew up the original plans for the game we call baseball (Riess, 2010). Much later in the century, Alexander Cartwright organized the first playing game of baseball