Jackie Robinson Pak
` Does the color of someone’s skin determine whether he or she is good at something? Or does skin color make it harder to compete? If you look back at baseball 70 years ago, the teams were made up of only white players. Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player to break the color barrier in professional baseball. Many obstacles stood in his way of becoming a professional baseball player.
Jackie was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. He was the fifth and last child of Mallie and Jerry Robinson. He moved to and was raised in Pasadena, California. He attended John Muir High school and went to Pasadena City College and UCLA. After realizing he couldn’t afford going to UCLA, he joined the U.S. Army where he was able to build the courage to do what he really wanted to, play baseball.
Jackie’s first year playing baseball helped make a name for himself. In the spring of 1945, Twenty-six- year-old Jackie joined the Negro Baseball league playing with the Kansas City Monarchs
and ended up playing on the American All-star team. On April 16, Jackie tried out with the Boston Red Sox.
When he arrived, players, managers, and coaches didn’t show up. He didn’t let this stop him from chasing his dream. On October 23, he signed with the Montreal Royals and received $3,500 bonus and $600 monthly salary. Signing with the Royals pointed him in the right direction to become a baseball star. The next season, Jackie played in his first game with the Royals and had a very good game, going 4-5 at the plate with a 3 run homerun and 3 singles. He stole 2 bases, had 4 RBI’s, and also scored from 3rd base twice forcing the other team’s pitcher into balks. The Royals won the game by a big margin, 14-1. Robinson led the Royals to the Little World Series victory, ending a fantastic rookie year batting .349 in 124 games. Jackie became very well known around the league and, at this point, was ready to change the game forever.
Roy Baker III
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