Jackie Robinson Dies: The Man Who Broke Baseball's Color Line
Jackie Robinson's contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers didn't just break baseball's color barrier — it broke Branch Rickey's unspoken rule about how to do it. Rickey told Robinson he needed a man brave enough not to fight back. For three seasons Robinson absorbed everything: spikings, beanings, death threats, hotels that wouldn't let him stay with his teammates. He batted .311. In 1949 he won the MVP award and stopped holding back. He retired in 1956, ten years after he started. He died at 53, of heart disease accelerated by diabetes.
October 24, 1972
54 years ago
What Else Happened on October 24
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