This year, Major League Baseball celebrates the historical moment 60 years ago when Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. In a special series, The Inquirer looks back at the era, and the legacy of the man and the game he integrated two decades ahead of the nation.
- When Jackie Robinson made the putout on Dick Culler's bouncer, the beginning of a game became the beginning of segregation's end.First of eight parts Wars can change the world. So can elections, revolutions and great inventions. But sometimes all it takes is a little ground ball to third base.
-
After Jackie Robinson broke major-league baseball's color barrier by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, other black players hoped to follow. Other teams, as well. But some teams, including the Phillies, remained reluctant to integrate for a decade or more.
-
When Branch Rickey was coaching University of Michigan baseball in the early 20th century, his team took a road trip to play against Notre Dame.
Part 1
- Keeping the Dream Alive
- Jackie's Legacy
- The Jackie Robinson Foundation
- Baseball dreamers are growing up
Image Galleries:
- Phils Honor Jackie Robinson
- Taking the High Road: Jackie's Grandson, Jesse Simms
- Black Diamonds: Negro League Legends
- The Last Team: The Chester Red Sox
- Phils pay homage to the man
- Historical photos from the Associated Press
Audio:
- Ed Charles: Jackie Robinson Superstar
Multimedia
Slideshows:
-
Jackie Robinson 60th AnniversaryPhils hurled insults at the 'noble experiment'
-
It took only 18 days in the spring of 1947 for the Phillies to create a notorious reputation that even now, with African American stars such as Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, they are still struggling to shed.
-
When it came to integration in the 1940s and 1950s, the Phillies were cellar-dwellers - the last of the National League's eight teams to use a black player.
Part 2
- Johnny Podres played with Jackie Robinson on Brooklyn's famous 1955 champions. And Podres has stories to tell.Johnny Podres has had memorable experiences in a lifetime spent in baseball. Being a teammate of Jackie Robinson's will always be one of the best. "He was a great guy," Podres, 74, recalled one quiet morning this spring at the Phillies' training camp in Clearwater, Fla. "I was lucky to know him and play with him."
-
EAST ELMHURST, N.Y. - Ed Charles compiled a .263 batting average over an eight-season major-league career. In his final year - 1969 - the third baseman nicknamed "The Glider" helped the "Miracle Mets" win a World Series.
- Hear members of the Monarchs reminisce.n 1995, a group of 10- and 11-year-olds from the Marion Anderson Recreation Center in South Philadelphia became the first all-black team to play baseball and soccer in the Devlin League and Philadelphia's Department of Recreation Leagues. The Monarchs continually used Jackie Robinson as a role model and inspiration in this endeavor.
Part 3
- She has headed countless projects in her late husband's name.Rachel Robinson knew how to smile through her fear. Throughout their 27 years of marriage, Jackie Robinson's wife had managed to publicly mask her concerns. As courageously as her pioneering husband, she silently had endured the death threats, the taunts, the provocations, the stinging innuendo.
-
Nearly 10 years ago to the day - April 15, 1997 - Jesse Robinson Simms, then 18, was on the field at Shea Stadium, shoulder-to-shoulder with a cadre of luminaries that included President Clinton, taking part in a 50th anniversary celebration of the day his grandfather, Jackie Robinson, broke through major-league baseball's color barrier.
- The Jackie Robinson Foundation also provides networking opportunities for the young scholars it supports.As one of six kids growing up in West Oak Lane, Deirdre Littlejohn knew that if she wanted to go to college, she'd have to find a way to pay for it herself. While searching online at Central High School, she found the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
Part 4
- Sixty years after Jackie Robinson's debut, the pool of African American players has evaporated to a puddle.When Dontrelle Willis pitches for the Florida Marlins, he's balancing a heavy load. "Every time I go up on the mound, I take my race and my family out there," the all-star hurler said last week.
-
Sixty years after Jackie Robinson's desegregation of major-league baseball, African Americans are playing the game at the lowest percentages in decades. The reasons for the decline are multiple and complex, ranging from interest and greater career options to access.
-
Early 1800s Baseball is introduced in the United States. 1860s During the Civil War, soldiers, black freemen and emancipated slaves play the game across the widening map of America.
Part 5
- Besides honoring Robinson, Jimmy Rollins and Dontrelle Willis feel a sense of responsibility.Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Florida Marlins lefthander Dontrelle Willis have a great appreciation for Jackie Robinson. Like countless other major leaguers, the two Oakland, Calif., products will proudly wear Robinson's No. 42 tomorrow as part of baseball's nationwide Jackie Robinson Day salute.
Part 7
More Coverage
- Top Jobs
- Top Homes
- Top Cars
|
Southwark $385,000 843 S American St #B |
Gladwyne $1,325,000 1157 Maplecrest Cir |
- Books
- Movies
- Page Reprints
- Photo Licensing
- Photos
Buy Inquirer, Daily News & Philly merchandise here including:
Ticket Offers
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
Site Services:
Classifieds:
- Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Rentals | Marketplace | Celebrations
Partners:
