Jackie Robinson in Kansas City as we Celebrate BHM

During the years of World War II, a man named Jack Roosevelt Robinson entered the United States army and was commissioned a second lieutenant the following year. He had served his country for three years but received a medical discharge in November 1944 due to a broken ankle just a few weeks after D Day.

When his injury finally healed, he went on to play baseball in the Negro Leagues in the spring of 1945 and joined the most prominent team in the history of the league, the Kansas City Monarchs.

In the early 1940s the Monarchs had won four consecutive league championships and had the most in the league at the time with nine crowns in the 25 years of their existence.

“Although Jackie Robinson only spent a few months with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, he left an everlasting mark on the city of Kansas City. From wearing the red and white uniform in April to his final appearance in August of that year, Robinson became a vital member of the team alongside Satchel Paige. Paige was the anchor of the pitching staff, while Robinson starred at shortstop,” wrote Jesse Howe in his article of Robinson and his year in Kansas City.

Alongside Kansas City’s star pitcher Satchel Paige, Robinson became one of the most notable figures in the history of the Negro Leagues, and his presence on the baseball diamond would have an even greater impact two years later.

He went by Jackie and spent five months with the Monarchs during the 1945 season as a shortstop and hit .387.

During the 1945 season with the Monarchs, Branch Rickey, who owned the Cardinals for 23 years and made a lasting impact on the game with his invention of the revolutionary farm system, became the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943, and he had another desire to forever change the game of baseball.

For over 60 years, Major League Baseball had a gentlemen’s agreement among the owners that excluded having African Americans play on any team; but Rickey was dissatisfied with that agreement and was the only owner in baseball who was. Given the fact that many blacks had served America’s military during WWII, and that several big-league managers had gone to Negro League games and seen the great talent that black ballplayers possessed, Rickey was determined to integrate the game forever.

“This I know. In the spring of 1945, Mr. Rickey told me in confidence that only the Board of Directors of the baseball club knew, and only his family knew. Now I was going to know that he was going to bring a black player to the Dodgers. Rickey also said point blank that going back to when he was coaching at Ohio Wesleyan University and he took his players down to play ball in Indiana and mentioned that his best player was black, a catcher named Charlie Thomas. Thomas was denied registering at his hotel, and the humiliation of Charlie never left Branch Rickey. He was determined to end that.” – Red Barber broadcaster of the Brooklyn Dodgers

He began scouting Jackie Robinson after gaining the approval from the Dodgers front office and liked what he saw.

On August 28, 1945, just a couple weeks after V-J Day, Rickey signed Robinson to a minor league contract, and a national announcement was made two months later that Robinson would join the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ International League affiliate for the 1946 season.

If Robinson played well enough, he would move up to the Dodgers for the 1947 season.

“I think that Branch Rickey saw the various aspects of the character that attracted him and made him feel that he could come through a scathing experience without giving up. There was very much a partnership between them, and they were in it together. Rickey needed Jack as much as Jack needed Rickey, they just had to do it together.” – Rachel Robinson (Jackie’s wife)

In 1946, Robinson was a star. He became the league’s batting champion and led the Royals to the league championship. It was now time for Jackie Robinson to move up to the big stage.

During the winter of 1946, Rickey and Robinson met with the Dodgers president doing everything that he could to prepare Robinson for what was to be the biggest challenge of his life 

Rickey emphasized that Robinson would endure every expletive and insult from those fans who were haters, and Robinson had to show to Rickey that he would not retaliate. It was going to be the biggest challenge in Jackie Robinson’s and in essence Branch Rickey’s life, but they were determined to make it happen.

"I realize what I'm going into," Robinson said at the time. "I realize what it means to me and to my race and to baseball, too. I'm very happy for this chance and I can only say that I'll do my best to make the grade.”

He was ready to go.

On April 15, 1947, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Jackie Robinson ran out to field to play first base, the first game that saw a black man playing in the major leagues. Robinson went on to win the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award, propelled the Dodgers to the National League pennant, and integrated the game of baseball forever.

He went on play for 10 seasons with the Dodgers, helped lead them to their first world championship, and in 1962 became the first black player ever elected to the Hall of Fame.