April 15, 1947

Jackie Robinson Makes His Major League Debut

On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the Major Leagues.  Robinson debuted at second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won rookie-of-the year.  Robinson led the National League in batting in 1949, when he was named MVP, and was voted an All-Star from 1949 to 1954.  

I remember sitting in the upper deck at Milwaukee County Stadium with my dad in or before 1955 to watch the Braves play the Dodgers.  By that time the Dodgers had four other African Americans on their team: Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam, Don Newcomb and Joe Black.  Junior Gilliam was one of my favorite players.  Campanella won the National League MVP award in 1951, 1953 and 1955 before a car crash in 1958 rendered him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

I had the baseball card pictured above.  My mom threw it and all my other baseball cards out my freshman year at UW-Madison.