Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson is a professional baseball player who made history when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He became the first black man to play in major league baseball. The controversial decision to put a black player in the Premier League has caused a flurry of criticism. This led to the abuse of Robinson by both fans and players. But he endured discrimination and rose above it, continuing to serve as a symbol of the civil rights movement. His awards include the Newcomer of the Year in 1947 and the International League MVP Award in 1949. Robinson was posthumously recognized as a pioneer of civil rights. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan. These along with many other achievements of this legendary player make Robinson one of the most effective and respected baseball players of all time.

Major Factor of Fame

Robinson’s debut in the Main League put an end to almost 60 years of baseball segregation, also known as the color baseball barrier. Starting his baseball career at the age of 28, Robinson spent 10 seasons, all on the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career, his team participated in six World Series, and Robinson himself was a participant in 6 All-Star Games. In 1999, Robinson was inducted into the symbolic Team of the Century of the Major League Baseball.

It is generally believed that Robinson’s career marked the beginning of an era that replaced the long ball era. In modern times, the game began to include more balanced tactics in the attack, in which due to the speed of the legs, the wounds were earned by aggressively running between bases. Robinson had a very strong blow and excellent speed. He earned more than a hundred wounds in just six of his ten seasons, 110 wounds from 1947 to 1953.

Other important career statistics include:

• the average sales rate of 0.311,
• base achievement rate of 0.409,
• slagging rate of 0.474 (Schutz 77).

These were some of the most impressive stats in baseball and they still remain that today. Jackie Robinson managed to accomplish the impossible in many aspects. Not only did he show himself as a player who knew his math well, but he also demonstrated an extraordinary spirit for the game.

Robinson made more woks than 740 out of 291 strikeouts. Robinson was the only player between 1947 and 1953 to steal the most bases, 123, with a slag rate of 0.425. In total, Robinson stole 197 bases out of 227 attempts during his career, with 87 percent success. During his career, Robinson managed to steal 19 times home base, which is one of the most difficult elements of baseball and requires great skill (“This Day In Dodgers History: Jackie Robinson Steals Home Plate For First Time”). Robinson has often been described as the father of modern base theft. An analysis of baseball statistics shows that Robinson has been one of the best fielders throughout his career, consistently showing great results, regardless of the position he played. Having played his debut season in the league at first base, Robinson spent all other seasons as a second base player.

In the seasons of 1950 and 1951, Robinson led the league in terms of fielding among the players of the second base. In the last years of his career, Robinson played about 2,000 innings at third base and about 1,175 in the outfield (Huber). He largely dedicated his achievements to his thrive to be respected as any other human being, thus, addressing the issues of racism and segregation in the United States.

Public Activity

In 1957, Robinson was appointed to a leadership position at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP Freedom Fund Drive. He worked for the organization until 1967. In 1964, together with the Harlem businessman Dunbar McLaren, Robinson founded the National Bank for Freedom, a commercial bank in Harlem, and became the first head of the institution. In 1970, he founded a construction company to provide housing for low-income families (Schutz 142). After getting off the diamond, Robinson made quite an effort to launch a long-lasting legacy that made the lives of many people much better.

After finishing his baseball career, Robinson was active in politics. He was a Republican and had conservative views on some laws, including the Vietnam War. In 1964, Robinson was one of six directors of Nelson Rockefeller’s presidential campaign from the Republican Party, and later became chief assistant to local government after Rockefeller was re-elected governor of New York in 1966 (Schutz 147-148). While he largely supported the American soldiers during the Vietnam war, he would later admit his regret for doing that as openly as he did.

Robinson gratefully accepted an honorary plaque commemorating the 25th anniversary of his GBL debut and commented that he would be even happier and proud to one day look at the coaching line at third base and see a black coach there. Robinson’s dream came true only in 1974, however, shortly after his death (Helyar). Being born into a family where some of the members still remembered what slavery meant and living in the age of segregation made Robinson’s strive for the equality of the black his life’s major work

Summary

Jackie Robinson is by far one of the greatest baseball players to ever step on the American field. His basic skills were some of the greatest at the time, his strategic thinking was almost impeccable, and his social rights advocacy complete this list decently. Robinson was the player that not only played in the field but also played in society on quite a large scale. His life was that of a player, who strived for the greatest results not only for himself but also for American society overall.

Works Cited

“This Day In Dodgers History: Jackie Robinson Steals Home Plate For First Time”. Dodger Blue, 2021, https://dodgerblue.com/this-day-dodgers-history-jackie-robinson-steals-home-plate-first-time-pirates/.

Helyar, John. ”What Would Jackie Think?”. ESPN, 2007, https://www.espn.com/mlb/jackie/news/story?id=2828584.

Huber, Mike. ”Analyzing Jackie Robinson As A Second Baseman”. Society For American Baseball Research, 2022, https://sabr.org/journal/article/analyzing-jackie-robinson-as-a-second-baseman.

Schutz, J. Christopher. Jackie Robinson. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.