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Jackie Robinson Stealing Home against Yogi, 1955 World Series

I have mentioned that I am a Yankee fan in a few of the earlier of the posts on the blog. Growing up in New York City had it's advantages if you were a baseball fan in the 50's. I'm not just talking about those great Yankee Teams. It was because of my Mom who was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and Dad (when he was around) was a New York Giant Fan that I got to see all three of these great teams play.

This is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseballs Color barrier. I have always admired Mr. Robinson, not only for what he did but the way he did it. If you watch the movie "Soul of the Game" you'll get an insight on why Branch Rickey chose Jackie rather than Josh Gibson or Satchel Paige to be the one. One of the major reasons is told in another movie "The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson" when Jackie refused to sit in the back of a military bus when he was a second lieutenant during World War Two.

I could go on and on about how hard it was for Jackie because of the racism that he faced during almost every game he played back then as well as what he had to deal with off the field but I'll let you look up that bit of history if your interested. When I came to Pittsburgh I learned a great deal about the Negro League where Jackie came from. Two great teams played here, The Homestead Grays and The Pittsburgh Crawfords. Jackie never played for those teams, Josh Gibson did.

I wonder if it will take another sixty years before racism like Jackie faced will become a distant memory.