JACKIE ROBINSON
January 31, 1919, Cairo, GA October 24, 1972
The first African American to play in Major League Baseball
African American baseball player. He is one of the most recognizable in the world.. He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers on Tuesday April 15, 1947 as first base man making him the first African-American to break the color line barrier in the MLB. This was the one history moment in time that will never be forgotten.
His debut marked the beginning of an exceptional career. His amazing established accomplishments include becoming 1947’s Rookie of the Year, being picked six times for All-Star Games, and receiving the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949.
Robinson retired from baseball on January 5, 1957 and landed a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. In 1997, MLB retired Robinson’s number 42 across all MLB teams. Robinson is the first professional athlete to ever receive such an honor.
Jackie and Rachel his wife had three children: Jackie Robinson Jr. (born November 18, 1946, died 1971, the year before Jackie), Sharon Robinson (born January 13, 1950), and David Robinson (born May 14, 1952).
Complications from heart disease and diabetes weakened Robinson and made him almost blind by middle age. On October 24, 1972, Robinson died of a heart attack at his home at 95 Cascade Road in North Stamford, Connecticut; he was 53 years old. Robinson’s funeral service on October 27, 1972, at Upper Manhattan’s Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, attracted 2,500 mourners. Many of his former teammates, other famous baseball players, and basketball star Bill Russell served as pallbearers, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson gave the eulogy. Tens of thousands of people lined the subsequent procession route to Robinson’s interment site at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, where he was buried next to his son Jackie and mother-in-law Zellee Isum. Twenty-five years after Robinson’s death, the Interboro Parkway was renamed the Jackie Robinson Parkway in his memory. This parkway bisects the cemetery in close proximity to Robinson’s gravesite.
After Robinson’s death, his widow founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and she remains an officer as of 2021. On April 15, 2008, she announced that in 2010 the foundation would open a museum devoted to Jackie in Lower Manhattan.Robinson’s daughter, Sharon, became a midwife, educator, director of educational programming for MLB, and the author of two books about her father. His youngest son, David, who has ten children, is a coffee grower and social activist in Tanzania
He passed away on October 24, 1972, North Stamford, Stamford, CT from a heart attack.
His awards are endless and the Major League Baseball has honored Robinson many times since his death. In 1987, both the National and American League Rookie of the Year Awards were renamed the “Jackie Robinson Award” in honor of the first recipient (Robinson’s Major League Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 encompassed both leagues). On April 15, 1997, Robinson’s jersey number, 42, was retired throughout Major League Baseball, the first time any jersey number had been retired throughout one of the four major American sports leagues.
Mr. Robinson is an Icon a true leader to date. He is undefined in all aspects. He was filled with a passion and vision for the sport with the gift that was bestowed upon him.
ALL REFERENCES:
ESPN
JACKIE ROBINSON BIO
BASEBALL HALL OF FAME