by Steve Kubitza

Created on: August 18, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

Just like the rest of the country, African American baseball players faced great racism before the Civil Rights Movement took place. It was so bad that before the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson in 1945, general managers refused to sign black players. They were forced to play for low salaries in many different leagues known as the Negro Leagues. They consisted not only of blacks but of Cubans, Dominicans, and other Central and South American players.

The Negro Leagues were actually very successful for a long time. The leagues took off in the 1920s when they had their best talent. Many MLB hall-of-famers started their careers with Negro League teams. Some notables are Hank Aaron, Roy Campanella, Larry Doby and Satchell Paige, and the well known Jackie Robinson. The end of the Negro Leagues started when the MLB started signing black players. Any Negro League player would leave their team to pursue a career in the MLB. The fact is that the MLB was a better business. The leagues eventually folded in 1962 for many reasons but mostly a loss of money.

The signing of Jackie Robinson was a major event for all minority players. He broke the color barrier and allowed anyone to play in the MLB, no matter what the color of their skin was. He knew that he would face racism but he did not know how severe it would be. He started his career in the majors playing for a minor league team in Florida. This was in the heart of the South and the terrible racism in America. He was not allowed to stay at the team hotel so he had to stay with a local black politician. Since the Dodgers didn't own a spring training facility for AAA the team had to train at public facilities. The city of Sanford, Florida refused to allow Robinson to practice there so he practiced on his own in Daytona. Other teams also refused to play a team with a black player on it so most of the teams games were played up North where the racism was not nearly as bad as that in the South. He had a successful year and was the league MVP.

In 1947 Robinson was called up to start the season with the Dodgers. There were mixed reactions from players and media alike. Sadly, the majority were against a black player in the MLB. There was some racial tension in the Dodgers clubhouse with some players saying they would sit out if Robinson played. Luckily, manager Leo Durocher publicly stated that if anyone did not want to play he would make sure that they were traded. He was one of few non racist players and managers in the MLB. Most notably the St Louis Cardinals always gave Robinson a hard time. They would repeatedly yell racial slurs from the dugout and always played rough against him. They would purposely slide into him and give him cuts all over his legs. The Phillies also gave him a hard time. They, like the Cardinals, would yell slurs at Jackie from the dugout. What they did not realize was that this motivated the whole Dodgers team to beat them.

The struggle Jackie Robinson faced symbolized racism in professional baseball. However, because of how he faced the racism with such a positive attitude, he helped put down racism in pro ball. He opened the door for other colored players to play in the MLB and face the racism. And although breaking the color barrier brought an end to the Negro Leagues, it gave colored players a whole new beginning. They were no longer known as colored players. They were know as Major League baseball players.

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