Racism And Sports

13 Pages 3285 Words

erican patriots did; he joined the United States Army. During his duty in the Army he attended officers school and earned himself the honorable rank of First Lieutenant. At the end of his service to his country he decided to refocus his efforts towards sports again.
Immediately after his release from the Armed services he got himself a job coaching basketball at a Negro college in Texas. Jackie soon decided to follow his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. His first professional position was shortstop on the Kansas City negro league team named the Monarchs. This was in 1945, at that time there had still been no African-American in the Major Leagues but the negroes league teams were paying professional organizations. At this time this was the highest place an African American could attain in the profession of Baseball. Jackie really excelled in the Negro leagues for his talent as well as for his public relation skills. The people just loved this young energetic shortstop.
At the time of Jackie’s rise in the Negro leagues, a very important man in baseball was on the hunt for something. That man was the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers Branch Rickey, the thing he was looking for was a player with the talent, guts and wit to integrate Major League Baseball. When he investigated the many options in the Negro league that he had available to him, he felt that Jackie Robinson might just have what it takes to diversify the game forever.
When Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson discussed the opportunity that was at hand there were quite a few factors. The most prevailing one being the anticipated non-acceptance of a black player joining the most prestigious white league in the world. The had to talk about the issue of his teammates being non-accepting of him. They more importantly had discuss the dislike he would receive from the fans and umpires especially in the south. Branch made Jackie make a promise to...