Every year during the season, there is a day when all the players on the field wear the same shirt with the same back number to commemorate a great man. He has braved the thorns in a difficult situation to open a good road for the younger generations, and also made the MLB game more exciting. The greatness and influence of this great man is not only in the baseball world, but even affects the entire United States, even the Empire State Building has lit a lamp to commemorate him, and even the famous Broadway Avenue in New York has briefly changed his name on this day.
Broadway was temporarily renamed Jackie Robinson Street today
Even in films featuring him, the late well-known actor, "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman, showed that playing this player "will be an unforgettable experience," not just because of the player's skill, but more because he changed the entire major league. He was —Jackie Robinson.
Robinson showed impressive athletic talent from an early age, with good grades in baseball, basketball, rugby and athletics in middle school, and became the only "amphibious athlete" at UCLA after entering UCLA. It is worth mentioning that baseball at that time was the weakest sport in his college years. Still, he eventually decided to make a living, in large part because baseball was the only well-paid professional team sport at the time.
During the Pacific War, Robinson served in the U.S. Military, where he continued to suffer from racial discrimination and was even arrested for refusing to move to the back seat of a segregated bus, but was eventually acquitted. Robinson's bravery in injustice and opposition to segregation set the stage for him to set off a "terrifying wave" in Major League Baseball and even in American society as a whole, and at the same time, this incident also attracted the attention of a person who would change Jackie Robinson's life.
Before 1947, there was an unwritten rule among the managers of major league teams that African-American players were not allowed to enter the major leagues. At that time, African-American and Latino players could only swim in black leagues and semi-professional leagues in some Caribbean countries or Mexico. After retiring, Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Black League, and with 47 appearances, he played 63 singles and 5 home runs, becoming a shining star in the black league.
As Robinson's performance spread around, so did his Böhler, who was Branch Rickey, the brooklyn Dodgers' team manager. He took a fancy to Robinson's amazing performance in the Black League, and the addition of such players would greatly enhance the Dodgers' strength. In addition, Ricky played professional football as a young man and was a teammate with Charles Follis, the first black football player in history. Ricky also knew in his heart what kind of challenges the first black player to enter the major leagues would face, and Robinson's past made Ricky think that Robinson would be "the man". With wisdom, ability, and courage, Ricky signed a major league contract with Robinson. In this way, Ricky became Robinson's "Bole", and Robinson did not live up to his trust.
On April 15, 1947, Robinson wore the number 42 jersey to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers as a starting first baseman. As the pioneer of history, Robinson faced unimaginable difficulties in his rookie season. On the field, opponent players and coaches constantly harassed and humiliated him when he hit, teammates rejoiced, and the audience booed. When he arrived at the scene, he and his family were often threatened with death. Wherever the Dodgers went, Robinson was considered inferior. But even under such great pressure, Robinson still obeyed Ricky's teachings—not to respond verbally or physically, but to the humiliation and questioning of people with a single blow and a beautiful steal.
With his innate baseball talent, indomitable personality, and excellent on-field performance with a first-year batting percentage of 0.297, 29 steals, 31 second-base hits, 175 home runs and 12 home runs, Robinson gradually gained recognition from other teammates and won the Best Newcomer award in the National League that year. His teammate Pee Wee Reese, who has made no secret of his love for Robinson in public, said: "You can hate a person for many reasons, but skin color is definitely not one of those reasons!" ”
After Robinson joined, the Brooklyn Dodgers won the National League championship six times, and in 1955, they defeated the indispensable New York Yankees to win the World Series championship, which was not only the first time the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series, but also the first World Series championship in the seventy-three years since the Dodgers were founded. At the end of the 1956 season, robinson, already 36, decided to hang up his shoes and end his brilliant major league career.
In just nine years, he won the Rookie King, MVP and World Series, and it can be said that he has returned with a full load. Robinson's career average strike rate is excellent .311, the shooting rate is 409, and what is even more shocking is that he has only swallowed 291 triples in his career when he has selected 756 guarantees in his career! In addition to being a good batter, he is also a great defender, and he is competent in almost every defensive position, giving the coach more room to adjust and lay out tactics. Robinson has a total of 197 successful home runs in his career, the most popular of which is home stealing, and the 19 career home run successes have not been broken since he retired. The most classic of these is the key moment in the first game of the 1955 World Series, and there has only been one record of successful home run theft in the more than sixty years since his retirement.
Robinson averaged 137 OPS+ in a single season between 1947 and 1954
Beginning in 1957, Robinson became actively involved in the civil rights movement, seeking equality for African Americans. Not only did he march with Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama, but he also campaigned across the country to help raise funds for the NAACP's Freedom Fund Movement and the Southern Council of Christian Leaders to help bail out activists arrested for demonstrations. In 1962, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Past apartheid policies have caused countless regrets and made us miss countless superstars. And because of Robinson's bravery, tenacity, and great personality, we never missed a player who could bring countless glory to baseball because of the color of our skin. More than just a baseball player, Robinson has become a central figure in the history of the United States, and his lifelong honors include: the first African-American to participate in a major league baseball game, and since then the baseball league separated by the color of the player has forever become history; the first baseball player printed on a U.S. stamp; in 1987, Major League Baseball named the Newcomer of the Year Award as the "Jackie Robinson Award"; in 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's entry into major league baseball, his No. 42 jersey was fully retired from MLB All new entrants to the team are no longer allowed to use this number, which is an unprecedented feat in professional sports.
His appearance gives special meaning to the originally ordinary April 15th, and also gives a special meaning to the ordinary number 42. Since 2009, every Year on April 15, all major league players wear the number 42 jersey in honor of Jackie Robinson and his glory. This also confirms the last sentence of the movie "Legend of No. 42": "Maybe tomorrow we will all wear the #42 jersey and they will not be able to distinguish who is who!" ”
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