For us, nothing was quite like this advent of the first black American baseball player in the 20th century. Called up from Montreal on April 10, 1947 in the wake of Brooklyn Manager Leo Durocher's year-long suspension, Robinson's long anticipated promotion was obscured by the events of the previous day.
On Opening Day of the regular season, the talented and sagacious Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves handcuffed Robinson. He worried that it would be difficult to stick in the majors if all pitchers were comparable to Sain. Fortunately they weren't. Ahead lay the racial vitriol of the Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman. The St. Louis Cardinals' purportedly threatened not to play on the same field with Robinson â€" both Enos Slaughter and Joe Garagiola spiked him when they did play.
jacky robetson all the way