Jackie Robinson broke MLB color barrier 74 years ago

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Dodgers had opened the 1947 season at home against the Boston Braves, and 26,623 fans attended the game at Ebbets Field. Robinson went 0-for-3 in his debut, won 5-3 by the Dodgers. He made the game’s first putout, receiving a throw from third base rookie Spider Jorgensen to retire Boston leadoff hitter Dick Culler.

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Despite the inauspicious debut, Robinson would play in 151 games. He hit .297 and won the first Rookie of the Year Award. He led the National League in stolen bases with 29 and collected 175 hits as the Dodgers reached the World Series.

Robinson was the first Black player in the major leagues since Moses Fleet Walker played 42 games for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association in 1884. It was Walker’s only year in the majors, and no Black player had been on a major-league roster again until Robinson debuted in 1947.

Robinson would play 10 seasons, mostly at second base. He finished with a career average of .311. He played in six World Series for the Dodgers and retired after the 1956 season. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

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Twenty-four years ago today, baseball retired Robinson’s No. 42, in a dramatic announcement made at Shea Stadium in New York by Commissioner Bud Selig, who was flanked by Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson; and President Bill Clinton.

Meanwhile, players paid tribute to Robinson in an Aug. 27, 2020, game between the New York Mets and Florida Marlins, one of seven games that had been postponed following violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As Michael Wacha took the mound for the Mets, both teams remained silent for 42 seconds, before leaving a Black Lives Matter shirt on home plate.

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