Jackie Robinson

This article is on historynet.com and it is facts and information about Jackie Robinson.
Jackie Robinson is the first African American ever to play Major League Baseball. He played for
the Brooklyn Dodgers and was not only an outstanding baseball player, but he also was a big
part in the equal rights movement by standing up for what he believed was right, which allowed
African Americans to follow him. Nowadays, some of the best players are African American and
it is all thanks to Jackie Robinson.
Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. He played professional baseball
form April 1947, to October 1956 for the same team, The Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch Rickey saw
him playing for the Kansas City Monarchs, a team in the Negro Baseball league, and signed him
to play with the Dodgers farm team; the Montreal Royals. Rickey took a huge chance when he
asked Robinson to come up and play for the Dodgers, but Robinson took that chance and ran
with it. Not only was he the first African American to play Professional Baseball, he was also the
first African American to be inducted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He wore the
number 42 and to this day only one other man wears that number. His name is Mariano Rivera
and the only reason he can wear that number is because he was still playing baseball when the
MLB decided to retire his number.
I chose to write an article about Jackie Robinson because I am a huge baseball fan. I play
softball at SLCC and he is a huge role model to me. Not only for his amazing talents on the field
but for his heroic acts off of it. He will always be remembered as one of the greats.