• 29 •
Jackie secured his legacy when he stepped out on Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, as the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. He added to his reputation not only by his breaking the baseball’s color barrier and opening the door for future African Americans, but also he filled the daily game box scores as well. Jackie was not just a black ball player, he was superior athlete in all aspects of the game—a great baseball player, period.
In 1962, in his first year of eligibility, Jackie was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Prior to the voting for the award, Jackie told baseball writers that, when considering his candidacy for the Hall, they should look only at his playing ability and not the fact that he had broken the Major League race barrier. When he first met Branch Rickey, Jackie said, “It’s the box score that really counts.” Reflecting his request, his Hall of Fame plaque makes no mention of race and states:
Jack Roosevelt Robinson
Brooklyn, N. L. 1947–1956
“Leading N.L. batter in 1949. Holds fielding mark for second baseman play in 150 or more games with .992. Led N. L. in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949. Most Valuable Player in 1949. Lifetime batting average .311. Joint record holder for most double plays by second baseman, 137 in 1951. Led Second basemen in double plays 1949–50–51–52.”
On June 25, 2008, with the approval of Rachel and Sharon Robinson, the Hall of Fame retired the old plaque and dedicated a new one. Hall of Fame Board Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said at the unveiling ceremony, “At his induction in 1962, his plaque reflected his wishes—it only recounted his magnificent playing career. But as we all know, there’s no person more central or more important to the history of baseball for his pioneering ways. His impact on our game is not fully defined without the mention of his extreme courage in crossing the color line.”
The second plaque states:
Jack Roosevelt Robinson
“Jackie”
Brooklyn, N. L., 1947–1956
“A player of extraordinary ability renowned for his electrifying style of play. Over 10 seasons hit .311, scored more than 100 runs six times, named to six All-Star teams and led Brooklyn to six pennants and its only World Series title, in 1955. The 1947 Rookie of the Year, and the 1949 N. L. MVP when he hit a league-best .342 with 37 steals. Led second basemen in double plays four times and stole home 19 times. Displayed tremendous courage and poise in 1947 when he integrated the modern Major Leagues in the face of intense adversity.”
On April 15, 1997, Major League Baseball retired Jackie’s number 42 throughout the league. In 2009, all Major League Baseball players, managers, coaches, and umpires wore number 42 on April 15 in what has now become an annual event.
Ball fields, buildings, and other facilities across the country are named in honor of Jackie. The UCLA Bruins baseball team plays in Jackie Robinson Stadium. A statue of Jackie stands at the stadium as do similar monuments in front of Pasadena City Hall and the Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach. California inducted him into their state Hall of Fame and, on March 2, 2005, President George Bush presented Rachel, on Jackie’s behalf, the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. It is presented to those “who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.” The U.S. Postal Service honored Jackie on three separate postage stamps in 1982, 1999, and 2000.
Hall of Fame New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra best summarized Jackie’s baseball career when he said, “He could beat you in a lot of ways.”
Others have lauded Jackie’s contributions to the African American community and to race relations in the United States. Hank Aaron noted, “Jackie Robinson gave all of us—not only black athletes but every black person in this country—a sense of our own strength.”
National columnist George Will wrote that Jackie’s life represented, “One of the great achievements not only in the annals of sports, but of the human drama anywhere, anytime.”
Teacher and historian Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., observed, “It is so easy for us to underestimate the enormous significance, both symbolically and politically, of Jackie Robinson’s integration of the Major Leagues. His courage and bravery played a major role in the history of integration, both on the field and throughout American society, and no history of the Civil Rights Movement would be complete without noting Robinson’s major role, and according him a place of honor and immortality in African-American history because of it.”
Philosopher, political activist, and social critic Cornel West wrote, “More even than either Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, or Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, Jackie Robinson graphically symbolized and personified the challenge to a vicious legacy and ideology of white supremacy in American history.”
Jackie so greatly earned the respect and adoration of the American public—both white and black—on the diamond and in the fight for equality for all Americans that it would seem that only he could damage his legacy to any degree. Unfortunately, in his final days, he made statements that contradict his long-expressed pride in being an army officer and belief that he and all African Americans had a responsibility to fight for their country.
In the Foreword to his 1972 autobiography, I Never Had It Made, he wrote, “I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey’s drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, and at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.”
Those bitter words came in a time of national turmoil—protests against the Vietnam War, controversy over civil rights, threats from the Black Power Movement, all of which were at their height that year. Perhaps Jackie was disillusioned by the disorder and division; maybe he had re-evaluated his life and found his influence and impact not what he had thought; possibly Jackie’s conclusions came in a fit of anger prompted by old humiliations. Or conceivably, they may not have been his reflections at all.
While Forewords are generally written by authors after they have finished the bulk of their books, in this case, this preface may not be Jackie’s words because his last autobiography was actually an “as told to” book. The interpreter of Jackie’s story was Alfred Duckett, who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., as a speech writer, including on “I Have a Dream.” Yet, even if Duckett did write the words, Jackie approved them because, according to Rachel, she read the final galleys to her nearly blind husband shortly before he died.
Whatever the reason for the quote, it does not reflect the attitudes he professed throughout his life or his evaluations of his contributions to baseball and America. Throughout his career, he stated his appreciation for the opportunity to play ball, his gratitude to the sports writers for their support, and his thanks for his white fans who were supportive. Jackie may have written “I never had it made,” but all evidence points to the fact that he had opportunities beyond even his own wildest dreams, and, in the end, he had it made because he made having it happen.