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by Darryl Brooks

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April 15, 2009 marked the 62nd anniversary of baseball great Jackie Robinson's debut as a major league baseball player, becoming the first African-American to play in the modern major leagues. He played major league baseball until 1956 and stayed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for his entire major league career.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia, a small town close to the Florida state line. His middle name was after former President Theodore Roosevelt who had recently died. His family moved to California when he was an infant and it was there that he started playing football and baseball in John Muir High School. He went on to attend Pasadena Junior College and continued his pursuit of sports. After leaving Pasadena, Robinson attended UCLA and became the first athlete to letter in four sports, baseball, football, track, and basketball. He left college for financial reasons in 1941 and held a variety of jobs, including semi-pro football, until being drafted in the army in 1942.

After his discharge from the Army in 1944, Robinson returned to playing football for the Los Angeles Bulldogs, until accepting a coaching job at Sam Huston College. It was while still coaching, that Jackie Robinson received an offer to play baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues. The next year he tried out for the Boston Red Sox, but was being scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers and in October, 1945 signed on with the Montreal Royals, which was a farm team for the Dodgers.

The next year, in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers called Jackie Robinson up to the Major Leagues, breaking the color barrier, and starting at first base. He made his debut on April 15, 1947 at Ebbets Field, before a crowd of over twenty-six thousand spectators. In his first year as a major league player, he hit twelve home runs, stole twenty-nine bases, and hit a .297 average.

The next year, he moved to second base, where he maintained his batting average and base stealing prowess, vaulting the Dodgers briefly into first place in the league. By 1949, Robinson won his first MVP award, and in 1950 became the highest paid Dodger in history. He continued his great career through 1956 when he was traded to the New York Giants and retired. During this time, he made his only World Series victory appearance in 1955 when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series.

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