AnirudhaNot Just Any Player
Jackie Robinson is a legend in the history of baseball. At the time of his birth in 1919, baseball leagues were still isolated from each other. Robinson became the first black player who was chosen on a major league team. He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Despite facing the racism, mostly by other players, Robinson did not back down and demonstrated his athletic prowess on the field.
Star On The Rise
Though Robinson is the most famous baseball players in the history of baseball, it is hard to believe that he actually started playing the game in his high school year and that too when he was forced by his older brother who was also an athlete. Robinson complied with his brother’s wish and soon found that he was multi-talented on track, basketball, football, but most particularly in baseball. Robinson never worried about how long his career would last and he just kept moving forward from the high school field to the college field.
Making His Mark
As an athlete, Jackie was making history as he became one of the first ever to earn a varsity letter in four sports! Jackie knew how bad he was in baseball and he wasn’t considering on taking baseball as a career he wants to pursue. But fate had already decided and he was drafted by the Kansas City Monarchs.
Reveling In The Past
When Bruce Scapecchi was growing up, Jackie Robinson was in the middle of creating history as a member of the Dodgers. Bruce couldn’t control his excitement that he was actually holding the bat that once belonged to an American hero. Yes, Bruce has held some awesome pieces of history before in his hand but this bat overweighted everything. But there was still one more thing that he has to to to be 100% sure.
Writing History
Robinson played with Dodgers for 10 years and has a line of honors awarded to his name. He became a star after he helped Dodgers win the 1955 World Series. He was not only the first player who managed to surpass the racism in Major League Baseball, but he was also the first black player whose name was admitted into the Hall of Fame.
Passing The Test
Scapecchi knew a way to clear his suspicion about the bat, to see if it was really Robinson’s bat or not. He Asked Sue to bring him a regular pencil. “I went in the house and got a pencil and came back out, ”Sue explained to KCCI. “There’s an area on the bat where he rubbed a pencil against, and if you’re out in the sun you can see the name ‘Jackie Robinson.’ And I was like, ‘Holy cow!’”