How Jackie Robinson impacted the face of modern sports

The number of people who make it to the Major League level is slim and the players who make an everlasting impact on the sport is even smaller.

But, the number of players who have changed how the modern sports era is looked at today? One.

Jackie Robinson lit the torch and passed it on to several generations of African-American athletes. After breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 after signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he opened the door for everybody and proved that baseball is more than a game.

While he didn’t make the nation color blind, he made it at least more color friendly. But, it came with some obstacles.

Branch Rickey, the president of the Dodgers who signed Robinson, told Sports Illustrated “Robinson was the target of racial epithets and flying cleats, hate letters and death threats. Pitchers threw at his head and legs and catchers spit on his shoes.”

At 6 feet, 195 pounds, Robinson won Rookie of the Year and two years later, won MVP. He finished his career with a .311 batting average, which got him into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in a small, rural town in Georgia. After being abandoned by his father six months after his birth, his mom and four siblings moved to Pasadena, California in 1920.

After excelling at Pasadena Junior College athletically, he became the first person to letter in four sports at UCLA in track, basketball, football and baseball. In 1945, he decided to focus on baseball and made his debut for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League. He only spent one year in Kansas City before Rickey signed Robinson in 1946.

While wearing No. 9, he played second base for the Montreal Royals — the Dodgers’ top farm team at the time. He led the league in batting average with .349 and stole 40 bases on top of leading his team to the Little World Series championship.

On April 15, 1947, he made his major league debut. “It was the most eagerly anticipated debut in the annals of the national pastime,” Robert Lipsyte and Pete Levine wrote in Idols of the Game. “It represented both the dream and fear of equal opportunity and it would change forever the complexion of the game and attitudes of Americans.”

The 28-year-old rookie played first base after spending the minor leagues at second since that was the only position open. When the second base position opened up a year later, he moved back and started to reach his MVP status and officially won the award in 1949.

He led the league with a .342 batting average and 37 steals. Robinson also had a career high in RBIs with 124 and 122 runs.

Robinson’s 10 year career made an impact on and off the field. Many teams changed their strategies after his playing style, he’s a World Series champion and a six-time All Star. But, more importantly, his courage, strength and dedication changed the landscape of not only baseball, but all of sports.