Life, the Universe, and Everything

Moses Fleetwood Walker was a catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884.  He was the first black man in the major leagues.  After the Toledo team folded, Walker played for a few other teams in the following years always having to endure opposing players refusing to play against a black man and even his own pitchers refusing to throw pitches called by a black catcher.  In 1889 the American Association and the National League both unofficially banned African-American players.

In 1942 the Brooklyn Dodgers hired Branch Rickey as president and general manager.  When Rickey was manager at Ohio Wesleyan University, his best player, a black man, was refused a hotel room because of his race.  That memory haunted Rickey, and he now had the opportunity to change things.  Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a staunch segregationist, died in 1944.  His replacement was Albert Benjamin “Happy” Chandler, former Governor and Senator from Kentucky.  Chandler had this to say about segregation.

"I've already done a lot of thinking about this whole racial situation in our country. As a member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, I got to know a lot about our casualties during the war. Plenty of Negro boys were willing to go out and fight and die for this country. Is it right when they came back to tell them they can't play the national pastime? You know, Branch, I'm going to have to meet my Maker some day. And if He asks me why I didn't let this boy play, and I say it's because he's black, that might not be a satisfactory answer. If the Lord made some people black, and some white, and some red or yellow, he must have had a pretty good reason. It isn't my job to decide which colors can play big league baseball. It is my job to see that the game is fairly played and that everybody has an equal chance. I think if I do that, I can face my Maker with a clear conscience."

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was a four sport star at UCLA.  He lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and track.  His worst sport was baseball.  He won the NCAA long jump title in 1940.  He started playing professional football in 1941, but his brief career was ended by WWII.  In 1944 while serving in the army, Robinson refused to go to the back of the bus.  He faced a court martial for his insubordination.  He was acquitted and received an honorable discharge later that year.

In 1945 Jackie played baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League.  After that season Branch Rickey signed Robinson for the Dodgers and assigned him to their top farm team the Montreal Royals.  He hoped that racial antagonism would be less playing in Canada.  Jackie won the International League MVP and lead Montreal to the league title.

On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the major leagues in nearly sixty years.  Rickey made Robinson promise not to retaliate to the racism he faced on and off the field for three years.  His on field performance earned him the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award.  He was a six time all-star and won the National League MVP in 1949.  In his ten year Major League career he led Brooklyn to the World Series six times, all against the New York Yankees.  Unfortunately the Dodgers were only able to win one in 1955.  He retired in 1957 because of declining health due to diabetes.  After baseball, he continued to be a leader in the civil rights movement.

Jackie was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility.  In 1987 the Rookie of the Year Award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award.  On April 15, 1997, the fifty year anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier, Major League Baseball retired Jackie’s jersey number 42 for all teams.  Since 2007 players have been allowed to wear 42 on April 15.  If you watch SportsCenter tonight, every player, coach, and umpire you see will be wearing 42.

Douglas Adams is both British and an atheist.  Neither of those are likely to be baseball fans.  The British prefer cricket and soccer, and it is impossible see the beauty and perfection that is baseball and not believe in God.  However he was right when he wrote that the answer to the ultimate question is 42.  In a sport where numbers are so important, DiMaggio’s 56, Ryan‘s 5714, Rose’s 4256, Aaron’s 755 (I have not yet learned 762), Robinson’s 42 is the most important.


I would like to thank my friends at wikipedia and the incomparable Ken Burns for their help with this post.