New York Icon: “Jackie” Robinson

Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson born January 31, 1919 was the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As the first black man to openly play in the major leagues since the 1880s . Jackie Robinson was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated African-Americans to the Negro leagues for six decades.

Apart from his cultural impact, Robinson had an exceptional baseball career. In over ten seasons, he played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers’ 1955 World Championship. Selected for six consecutive All-Star Games from 1949 to 1954 and was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947.He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 the first black player so honored. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. In 1997, in a final honour Major League Baseball retired his uniform number, 42, for all major league teams.

Robinson was also known for his many pursuits outside the baseball diamond. He became the first African-American television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first African-American vice-president of a major American corporation. Robinson also helped establish the Freedom National Bank in the 1960′s , an African-American-owned/controlled financial institution based in Harlem. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

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2 Responses to “New York Icon: “Jackie” Robinson”

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   March 4, 2010 at 4:55 am

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   March 26, 2010 at 10:08 am

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