No. 42

Biography
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. His mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised Jackie and her four other children. They were the only black family on their block, and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. From this humble beginning would grow the first baseball player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier that segregated the sport for more than 50 years.

Growing up in a large, single-parent family, Jackie excelled early at all sports and learned to make his own way in life. At UCLA, Jackie became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. In 1941, he was named to the All-American football team. Due to financial difficulties, he was forced to leave college, and eventually decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. After two years in the army, he had progressed to second lieutenant. Jackie's army career was cut short when he was court-martialed in relation to his objections with incidents of racial discrimination. In the end, Jackie left the Army with an honorable discharge.

In 1945, Jackie played one season in the Negro Baseball League, traveling all over the Midwest with the Kansas City Monarchs. But greater challenges and achievements were in store for him. In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey approached Jackie about joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Major Leagues had not had an African-American player since 1889, when baseball became segregated. When Jackie first donned a Brooklyn Dodger uniform, he pioneered the integration of professional athletics in America. By breaking the color barrier in baseball, the nation's preeminent sport, he courageously challenged the deeply rooted custom of racial segregation in both the North and the South.

At the end of Robinson's rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he had become National League Rookie of the Year with 12 homers, a league-leading 29 steals, and a .297 average. In 1949, he was selected as the NL's Most Valuable player of the Year and also won the batting title with a .342 average that same year. As a result of his great success, Jackie was eventually inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Jackie married Rachel Isum, a nursing student he met at UCLA, in 1946. As an African-American baseball player, Jackie was on display for the whole country to judge. Rachel and their three children, Jackie Jr., Sharon and David, provided Jackie with the emotional support and sense of purpose essential for bearing the pressure during the early years of baseball.

Jackie Robinson's life and legacy will be remembered as one of the most important in American history. In 1997, the world celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Jackie's breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier. In doing so, we honored the man who stood defiantly against those who would work against racial equality and acknowledged the profound influence of one man's life on the American culture. On the date of Robinson's historic debut, all Major League teams across the nation celebrated this milestone. Also that year, on United States Post Office honored Robinson by making him the subject of a commemorative postage stamp.

BT comment: Today was Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball. A day when all players wear number 42 to honor not only one of the game's greatest players, but one of it's greatest men.

I really didn't know too much about Jackie Robinson until one cold, rainy weekend in 1994when I watched Ken Burns' "Baseball" on PBS. I knew he was a great player, but by watching the story behind the sport I found a great honor and respect well up in my heart for this man. The ill treatment and persecution he endured just to play a game. Of course it was much more than a game. It was about equality, opportunity and human dignity. Most of all, on his part, it was about humility. He didn't strike back. He didn't respond in verbal rage. He played the game he loved to the best of his ability, thereby earning the adoration of players and fans alike. I almost felt sorry for him as I watched his story unfold. I couldn't understand(and still don't)why others would treat him so poorly and without a cause. But there are still alot of things about the human condition that I don't always comprehend.

I heard it said once that competition in sports doesn't develop character, it reveals it. This would seem to be true about No. 42 as well as those he played with and against. For better or for worse. I sometimes wonder what Jackie would think about the state of race relations in America today. Looking back at how his sacrifice would be followed by Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful movement towards racial equality. And then there are the race baiters and hucksters like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and more recently Obama's pastor, Reverend Wright. I would hope that his stance would be that of MLK's, where you judge a man based not on the color of his skin, but on the content of his character. That jobs as well as votes would be granted based on ability and personal integrity.

The Bible says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Also, that He is no respecter of persons. Jackie Robinson persevered in the face of persecution with all humility to play America's pastime. While who can remember any of those who rejected a black man playing the game of baseball at that time? He is the one who is honored on this day, not them. And he is honored by players of all races as they all wear his No. 42 on their uniforms in tribute to the man. God honors humility no matter what color we are. And, He resists pride just the same. I thank God for all peoples and what they bring to the human experience. And if there are those that I have disdain for, it is because of the darkness of their deeds, not the hue of their skin. The ability or more aptly I would say, the choice to do right lies within in us all.

Thank you Jackie Robinson. For by breaking the barrier on the playing field, you helped us to mend fences and make friends off the field. May your example of humility and excellence be a testimony to all those of the human race.