Jackie Robinson

B

Blacktiger2005

Well-Known Member
I want to commend NBC and ABC for their presentations on Jackie Robinson today. The movie "42" was promoted by Ken Burnson on NBC which he has given praise for it accuracy. Jackie's wife was also on NBC. What a gracious person she is. Just her presence reveal that she is a person of great strength like her husband. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie of their lives. And, to me that says a lot of a time when black men and black women stood together as partners in the struggle for racial equality. What a great man Jackie was in facing the horrific racism of his day, years before the great civil rights of the 1950's. In a time when so many of my generation know so little of Jackie Robinson I hope the story that is being told of his courageous spirit will resonate to all of us in the context of the time in which he lived and that we too can make a difference in this world. Jackie, I wish I could have met you. We desperately need someone like you today.
 
I'm no sports fan, but why is Jackie Robinson revered as the first black in the major leagues when Moses Fleet Walker truly was – in 1884? http://bit.ly/YCBTJ9

Is this a matter of interpretation? From what I understand two brothers other than Walker preceded Mr. Robinson.


Blacktiger2005 said:
I want to commend NBC and ABC for their presentations on Jackie Robinson today. The movie "42" was promoted by Ken Burnson on NBC which he has given praise for it accuracy. Jackie's wife was also on NBC. What a gracious person she is. Just her presence reveal that she is a person of great strength like her husband. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie of their lives. And, to me that says a lot of a time when black men and black women stood together as partners in the struggle for racial equality. What a great man Jackie was in facing the horrific racism of his day, years before the great civil rights of the 1950's. In a time when so many of my generation know so little of Jackie Robinson I hope the story that is being told of his courageous spirit will resonate to all of us in the context of the time in which he lived and that we too can make a difference in this world. Jackie, I wish I could have met you. We desperately need someone like you today.
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BeigeForWhite said:
I'm no sports fan, but why is Jackie Robinson revered as the first black in the major leagues when Moses Fleet Walker truly was – in 1884? http://bit.ly/YCBTJ9

Is this a matter of interpretation? From what I understand two brothers other than Walker preceded Mr. Robinson.
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Rep coming! Thank you for this! Did not know. I wonder if Centreville knows about this, I think he'd love this piece of BBB history. Anyone would, in fact!

Walker was a fair singles hitter whose .263 average that year was 23 points above the league average, a fine bare-handed catcher with a strong arm, and a fast and daring baserunner. He was popular with the fans, but not necessarily with his teammates. Toledo's ace pitcher, Tony Mullane, later said that Walker "was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals." As much as the quote indicates the problems Walker had to face, its first part is a tribute to his talent as a catcher: The team's other catcher (playing fewer games there than Walker) was star Deacon McGuire, who went on to catch 1,611 games in a 26-year major league career.

Walker, whose brother Welday played five games in the outfield for Toledo that year, was well received by fans in all the league cities, including Baltimore and Washington, except for two southern ones. He was hissed in Louisville, Kentucky, and a pseudonymous letter from Richmond, Virgina (which joined the league after the Washington franchise fell apart in mid-season), promised Toledo manager Charlie Morton that there would be a mob awaiting Walker if he played in a series scheduled there in October
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I just want to interject a little here. Jackie Robinson is not revered because he was the first black man to play in the majors in fact any baseball fan will be quick to tell you how inaccurate you are if you were to make the statement. Like you said he was not.

Mr. Robinson is revered because he was the first black man to play in the majors after the segregation policy was in place. When baseball became a professional sport the powers that be basically agreed that black players were out even though there were black players on amateur teams that became professional teams. Those players were systematically eliminated from the professional ranks mainly because the top players at the time refused to play with them or against the teams that they played on.

Mr Robinson displayed tremendous amounts of courage like Branch Ricky said to him he didnt want a player who was strong enough to fight back he wanted a player strong enough not to fight back. He had to take everything that they could dish out at him out on the field and then all the stuff off the field. He could not fail because he had the weight of an entire race placed on his shoulders. With all that he went through he surpassed the expectations placed on him.

Like you said he wasnt the first be he certainly helped reopen the door so he was not the last one to play professionally.
 
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