Leading By Example. Jackie Robinson Part 3

Jackie Robinson led by example. He showed his teammates that, despite all of the distractions, he could play well and be an important member of the team.

The captain of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pee Wee Reese, also led by example. He was the first to go over and shake Jackie's hand his first day in the clubhouse, even though it was the first time the Kentucky native had ever shaken hands with a black man.

Jackie and Pee Wee had a mutual respect for each other. Pee Wee saw what Jackie was going through and tried to support him as much as he could. He would joke with him, offer to be his warm up partner, and let his actions show that Jackie should be treated just like any other teammate.

One day in Cinncinatti, near Pee Wee's home town, the crowd was being especially mean in hurling insults at Jackie. Pee Wee walked over to Jackie on first base and quietly put his arm around his shoulder. With this simple gesture, Pee Wee had shown everyone how he would stand up for Jackie.

There is a very good book about this moment in history called Teammates, written by Peter Golenbock. (See the Recommended Book List on the right to link to it.)

A statue of Jackie and Pee Wee was created which captures that moment. You can see it in front of the stadium where the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones now play in Coney Island. It is just a few miles from where Jackie and Pee Wee once played together.

How bad was it for Jackie Robinson? Jackie Robinson Part 2

As one of his teammates put it, "most men would have cracked." Daily abuse included everything from name calling, to purposeful spiking, to death threats. Several of his white teammates were honest enough to say that, had they been in Jackie's shoes, they didn't think they would have been able to do it.

His teammates saw and heard how other players abused him. There were always some insults hurled at opposing players, but with Jackie this "bench jockeying" could get out of control.

One of the most abusive teams was the Philadelphia Phillies, led by their manager Ben Chapman. He was so verbally abusive to Jackie that it shocked the other players who heard him. When Chapman started to get negative attention, he asked to have a photo taken with Jackie to show there were no hard feelings. Jackie agreed, only because he was determined not to make things worse.

When they stood together for the photo, Chapman refused to shake the hand of a black man. So they both held on to a bat. Jackie later wrote that posing for that photo was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

Jackie Robinson. Part 1

Sixty years ago, Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

When he stepped onto the field a lot of people still didn't think that a black man should be allowed to play professional baseball. So they called him names, shouted insults, and spit on him.

Jackie played through it all. He had agreed not to fight back, not because he didn't want to but because he thought it was the most effective way to change baseball.

Jackie's primary concern was for black Americans to be given the equal rights they deserved. He was willing to take all the abuse in order to establish equality on the baseball field.

Jackie said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Jackie wore #42 and today players throughout the major league baseball will honor Jackie Robinson's tremendous impact on baseball and American society by wearing his number on their uniforms. Jackie would be surely be happy to see that among those wearing his number is Willie Randolph, the first black manager of a New York team.