Remembering Robinson

By Alex Trickett

Branch Rickey (left) shares a joke with Jackie Robinson

"Mr Rickey, are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?"

"Robinson, I'm looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back. If you're a good enough man, we can make a start in the right direction."

Thus played out - 60 years ago - the most important conversation in American sports history, as Brooklyn Dodgers boss Branch Rickey made Jackie Robinson the first black man to play Major League Baseball.

Robinson's influential role was cast. And the strength he showed in breaking through the colour barrier on 15 April, 1947, paved the way for the likes of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods to become global superstars.

Black athletes had made their mark before Robinson, in particular Jesse Owens (athletics) and Joe Louis (boxing).

But two years before the NBA was formed and 20 years before the first Super Bowl, none had gained acceptance in the mainstream of American culture.

JACKIE ROBINSON 1919: Born on 31 January in Cairo, Georgia 1939-41: Stars for University of California at baseball, basketball, American football and track 1942-44: Second lieutenant in the US army 1946: Joins minor league team Montreal Royals 1947: Signed by Branch Rickey to play for Brooklyn Dodgers. Becomes first black player in the major leagues on 15 April 1949: National League MVP 1955: Wins World Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers 1957: Retires from baseball 1962: Elected to Hall of Fame in first year of eligibility 1972: Dies from heart problems and diabetes complications on 24 October 1997: His number 42 is retired by all teams

Baseball was the key frontier and Robinson, who was born in a sharecropper's cabin, was not given an easy ride.

When he first donned a Dodgers uniform against the Boston Braves, he did so in the face of death threats.

And days later, he was mercilessly heckled by his fellow players.

Calls of "Hey Nigger, why don't you go back to the cotton field," and "Hey snowflake, which of those white boys' wives are you dating tonight?" rang out from the dugout of the Philadelphia Phillies.

And similar slurs followed him all around the USA.

Robinson did not rise to the provocation, honouring the passive terms of Dodgers boss Branch Rickey's "noble experiment".

But he was no "Uncle Tom".

Far from it. After suffering in silence for two years, Robinson had been joined by other black players and Rickey, seeing that his "experiment" had taken an irreversible hold on baseball, released his charge to speak his mind.

He duly spoke out about his plight and the plight of all black players, campaigning at every turn for equal rights and stepping into the middle of the bubbling civil rights movement with political giants like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, men he knew well.

All the while, Robinson proved himself worthy inside the baseball diamond.

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In 10 MLB seasons, he helped the Dodgers to six National League pennants and one World Series victory, batting at an average of .311.

And after he retired, his shirt number - 42 - was retired by every team, an honour accorded to no other player.

Branch Rickey had picked his protege well.

Robinson was a good enough player. And he was a good enough man.

He remains one of the most significant figures in the history of American sport.