English11
Period 8
Mrs.Hushmendy
Jackie Robinson What is an American hero? In my eyes a hero is some one you can look up too that did something amazing. Jackie Robinson is a hero in my eyes because he broke the color barrier in baseball in the 1900s. Jackie Robinson didn’t always play baseball. Jackie was born in Georgia on January 31, 1919 (“Jackie Robinson”). He was born the son of a sharecropper, a sharecropper a tenant farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent (“Discovering Multicultural…”). Sharecropping started when slavery ended it was a way for former slaves to get a job that they know how to do. When Robinson was born he was born in a segregated south and blacks didn’t have very many rights. Before Jackie started playing baseball he joined the army at the age of 23 in 1942(Damio). Jackie fought in World War II and his rank was 2nd lieutenant. While in the army they had non-segregated busses and Jackie was sitting near the front and refused to move he got arrested. After he left the army Jackie started playing in the Negro leagues. The Negro leagues are for only black players because they couldn’t play in the major leagues yet (Damio). By 1945 Jackie Robinson joined a Dodgers farm team. He was signed by a man named Rickey he signed the first black man to the dodgers (“Jackie Robinson”). By 1947 he broke the color barrier in the major leagues. In 1947 he became rookie of the year this was un heard of for a black to receive this award. A few years later in 1949 he received a MVP award. MVP stands for most valuable player and this is very hard to get especially if you’re black. By 1950 Robinson’s salary was 35,000 this was a tremendous salary for a black in the 1950s (“Discovering Multicultural…”). Robinson was the first Negro the take the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957 (“The Man Who Changed America”). All though he was booed, criticized, and terrorized he still showed people he was the best. Jackie had a very bad temper from getting arrested to yelling at umpires, fans, and opponents (“Discovering Multicultural…”). In his first year in the major leagues Robinson scored 125 run and had the most stolen basses he was a talented baseball player (Damio). Every home game the Brooklyn Dodgers has every seat was filled up because people wanted to see Jackie Robinson play baseball. Not only whites wanted to see him play but blacks as well. It was an amazing thing to see blacks and whites playing and watching baseball together at this point in time (“Discovering Multicultural…”). In 1962 Jackie Robinson was inducted in the hall of fame. In 1972 he was asked to throw out the first pitch at the 75th running of the World Series (“Jackie Robinson”). Only special and talented baseball players get the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at the World Series. Also, he was the first black to throw a first pitch at a World Series game this is a major accomplishment in baseball history. By the 1970s blacks were on every roster of major league teams thanks to Jackie breaking the color barrier (“Discovering Multicultural…”). After Robinsons fulfilling career in the MLB he retired at the age of 38 and became the most well known baseball player in the world (Encyclopedia of world biography).