81 days.................. April 15th 1947 = Jackie Robinson June 5th 1947 = Larry Doby And yet you never hear shit about Doby. Not even recognized as the 1st black man to play in the American league. Doesn't seem fair.
...yup, Robinson just happened to be the first. ...I just don't get why we are forced to relive it every freaking year...I mean, it happened almost 70 years ago already...the Civil Rights Bill was implemented over 50 years ago...Dr. King was killed nearly 50 years ago...geeez.
Bill Russell was the st black man to coach / manage a professional sports team & when asked by the Sporting news how he wanted the occasion to be remembered he simply said, "I don't".
Gotta keep some of the old animosity alive and well, and of course those wicked white Americans must always be front and center. Never mind all of those dead Union soldiers who hopefully aren't spinning in their graves. Incidentally, I'm still waiting for some "progressive" comedian or late night talk show host to crack a joke about how the native inhabitants of what is now America had a problem with too much European immigration. Lousy racists. Teepees for all, and be damned with railroads! lol
Jackie Robinson was to baseball as Adam and Eve to humanity, they were first but not the only. Any of us who are baseball fans know the history and how time changed everything. I too get tired of the yearly rant and then Jackie blah blah blah. I saw Robinson play and Doby as well, both men probably endured the same crap but Robinson seems to get the lions share of the credit. Fast forward to todays game and you still have morons like Harold Reynolds banging the gong, wake up and smell the coffee.
Its amazing how for so many years blacks fought to get into the game & now almost 70 years later they're few & far between.
^^^yeah, it must be just another case of the white man keeping the black man down. ...I don't doubt that Robinson had to endure a lot of crap but again, do we really need to be forced to relive it every damn year?...it's unnecessary overkill IMO. ...I fully realize that this country's past is not all rosy and there were many injustices including screwing over the red man and the black man, but again, that was a very long time ago...get over it already. ...I mean geeez, it's all in history books for everyone to see, but is it really also necessary to have go through all this pomp and circumstance, for lack of a better term, every year? If you really want to improve racism, stop talking about it all the damn time.
I'd much rather celebrate Roberto Clemente as the 1st Latin-Black Player. Like Rick mentioned, Pan-Am or Latin American players consist of 28% of all MLB Players. Latin Players IMO, have contributed more to the game over time, than Black players of American birth, which has dropped to approximately 19%........ NTM- Jackie Robinson WAS NOT the 1st Black Player to join the White Major Leagues.... that distinction belongs to Moses Fleetwood Walker, why is MLB ignoring Moses, over Robinson? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Fleetwood_Walker
