January 31, 2013 would have been Jackie Robinson's 94th Birthday. He was more than a baseball hero:
It only takes one person
-- one person with courage to stand up for what is right -- to change the world.
One person can stand up to injustice. One person can lead. One person can turn
the tide of history. But in one particular instance in America’s history it
took three.
Jackie Robinson was the
consummate athlete. The brother of 1936 Olympic silver medalist Mack Robinson,
Jack excelled in just about every sport in high school and college and was
slated to represent the United States in the 1940 Olympics which were canceled
due to Hitler’s rise to power. His athletic skills were outstanding, but what
led him to greatness was what he did not do.
Branch Rickey was a
forward-thinking executive on the Brooklyn Dodger’s management team. He had a
dream. He wanted the Dodgers to win the World Series. He needed a consummate
ballplayer to renew his team’s chances as the league reorganized after the war.
He also wanted to change the face of segregated baseball by hiring a black player
with skills and gumption. He found what he wanted in Jackie.
Rickey was upfront with
Jackie when he offered him a position: “Jackie, we’ve got no army. There’s
virtually nobody on our side. No owners, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And
I am afraid that the fans may be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can
only win if we can convince the world that I am doing this because you’re a
great ballplayer, and a fine gentleman.”
Rickey needed a gentleman, a man who could take the jeers and threats of
fans and fellow-players and not fight back. Could Jackie be that man? He
promised he would try.
Robinson played short
stop. When he was signed by the Dodgers, the player most threatened should have
been shortstop Pee Wee Reese. Pee Wee felt that if Jackie was the best, he should
have the position. The other Dodgers were not so welcoming. Someone
started a petition to get Jackie off the team. They would not play ball with a
black man. They asked Pee Wee, who grew up in the segregated South, to
sign. He considered it, but turned them
down.
So here are our
heroes: Robinson, the first
African-American to play in the Major Leagues, Rickey, the man who wanted to
integrate the game, and Reese who felt that any man who could play deserved the
chance. Jackie kept his promise; he held his temper; he didn’t fight back. Rickey
stood by him as a player and a man. And Reese made him a friend. During a game
when fans and the opposing team were raining insults and threats on Jackie as
he took his position at first base, Pee Wee walked casually across the turf,
and put his arm around Jackie’s shoulder.
His gesture silenced the crowd and announced to the entire world that
Jackie was his teammate and equal.
During the fifties and
sixties, America struggled to shed its policies of segregation. Rickey signed
African-American and Hispanic players. His dream came true; the Dodgers, with
Reese and Robinson playing, won the 1955 World Series. Robinson marched with
Martin Luther King who called him “a legend and a symbol.” He was later awarded
the Presidential Medal of Honor for his contributions to the Civil Rights
movement. Reese played ball and managed
players. His quiet strength and Robinson’s noble courage are immortalized in a
bronze statue outside of Key Park in Brooklyn. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder
as teammates.
Jackie Robinson said, “A
life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” As fans
stream by that statue today, our three heroes’ most amazing legacy is that kids
passing by will have to be told that this statue represents something which
they take for granted: we all stand together as equals.
The story of these three
heroes is told in the picture book Teammates
by Peter Golenbock. Share it with your children. Let us impact our children’s
lives; let us all stand together.
