Jackie Robinson Walks onto the Field at Ebbets Field

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson trotted out to first base at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and broke baseball's color line. He was the first Black player in the major leagues since Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, ending more than six decades of exclusion enforced by an unwritten agreement among team owners.

Robinson batted second in the lineup, between Eddie Stanky and Pete Reiser, against the Boston Braves. He went hitless in three official at-bats but reached base on an error in the seventh inning and scored the go-ahead run. The Dodgers won 5-3 before a crowd of 26,623, more than half of whom were Black fans who had come to witness something they understood was larger than a baseball game.

Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' general manager, had spent two years preparing for this moment. He had signed Robinson in October 1945 and placed him with the Montreal Royals, where Robinson won the International League batting title in 1946. Rickey chose Robinson not only for his talent but for his temperament. Robinson had agreed to absorb abuse without retaliation for two full seasons, a burden no white player would ever be asked to carry.

The hostility came fast. Several Dodgers had circulated a petition against playing with Robinson during spring training. The Philadelphia Phillies and their manager Ben Chapman subjected him to vicious racial abuse. Hotels turned him away. Opposing players spiked him at first base.

Robinson answered with his play. He hit .297 that season, led the league with 29 stolen bases, and won the first-ever Rookie of the Year Award. The Dodgers reached the World Series. Within two years, Larry Doby, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, and Don Newcombe had followed Robinson into the majors. The door he opened never closed.

Every April 15, every player in Major League Baseball wears number 42. It is the only number retired across all teams, permanently.