Why Jackie Robinson is the Greatest Athlete Ever
AT least part of the reason why Jack Roosevelt Robinson ( Jackie ) is the greatest athlete ever has to do with his youth. Jackie was born in Georgia in 1919 and while he was still young there was a major upheaval in his family. His father deserted the family and Jackie’s mother packed up everyone and moved to California where she worked as a maid to support the large family on her own.
One can only imagine the hardships that Jackie and his family endured. Yet mostly on his own and with very little parental support Jackie somehow managed to develop into a very competitive and competent athlete. To his classmates at UCLA Jackie Robinson was the greatest athlete ever because he was able to overcome his lack of a stable family life and go on to an incredible sports career as a collegian. AT UCLA he lettered in four college sports – football, basketball, baseball and track – in the same year setting a school record. But perhaps Jackie was also the greatest athlete ever at UCLA because in the midst of his athletic success Jackie put family first. He made the difficult decision to quit school after three years in order to support is mother and siblings.
Jackie began compiling the statistics the would gain him real notoriety and help to prove he is the greatest athlete ever beginning on April 15, 1947. On that day Jackie Robinson entered the baseball’s major leagues and began to pile up accomplishments that would eventually land him in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY. In fact in his very first year as a player he was named the National League’s Rookie of the Year. Playing second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947-56 Jackie made it clear why Jackie Robinson is the Greatest Athlete ever.
During his years with the Dodgers, Jackie helped lead the team into World Series competition in 1947,1949, 1952,1953,1955 and 1956. During that same span nobody questioned why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever, they just sat back ad watched him get chosen as a National League All Star six times as well as MVP in 1949.
Robinson’s fame was also gained outside the record books simply by the way he played the game on a day to day basis. Baseball aficionados could explain the reason why Jackie Robinson was the greatest athlete ever. He could simply do it all. Jackie could hit for average, he could bunt, and was a veritable terror on the base paths stealing bases, taking extra bases, executing the suicide squeeze. Jackie was the opposing pitcher’s biggest nightmare and keeping Jackie off the base paths his biggest goal. For Dodger fans, watching Jackie Robinson play was sheer joy. They saw every day why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever.
There is considerably more to the story of why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever. What Jackie Robinson accomplished statistically during his years with the Brooklyn Dodgers was admirable as it stands, but why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever is because his accomplishments were made against a constant flood of hatred and criticism. Prior to the hiring of Jackie Robinson by Branch Rickey to play for the Dodgers, professional baseball was territory that was owned, operated and played by whites only. There were large numbers of loud, insulting, ignorant people who were determined to kept it that way.
The reason Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever is because he hit, he fielded, he sped around the base paths not only with very little encouragement but rather in the face of what was often ugly and abusive criticism, cat calls and threats from the crowds. On the field Robinson was often disrespected by other ball players. Jackie Robinson was the greatest athlete ever because he hit, fielded and ran never knowing when the next insult would come his way,when the next pitcher would aim a fast ball at him, when the next player sliding into him at second base would try to nail him with his spikes..
It would have been enough if Jackie Robinson had simply been a great baseball player because certainly he was that. But his ability to maintain his dignity, his unwillingness to sink to the level of his white adversaries, his acceptance of all the burdens that came with being the first black ball player in the major leagues and still be a superb baseball player show everyone why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever.
But three’s more. Jackie Robinson didn’t just make baseball records he made American records. Before our nation’s armed forces were integrated Jackie Robinson had successfully broken the color line in baseball. Before Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, effectively desegregated American public schools, Jackie Robinson has single handedly picked up the mantle of equality and opened American baseball to blacks.
Whenever we acknowledge American baseball greats who happen to also be black, players like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, or Ernie Banks we must also acknowledge that a small but important part of the credit for their accomplishments must go to Jackie Robinson. It was Robinson and his courageous entry into the Major Leagues that not only opened the door for all black players who would ever follow in his footsteps, but also served as personal inspiration to so many black athletes to continue their athletic development and their belief in their personal worth.
Jackie Robinson didn’t hit Hank Aaron’s home runs for him or make the awe inspiring catches in place of Willie Mays. Both men are baseball greats with extraordinary talents of their own. But without the inspirational foray of Jackie Robinson into an all white sports arena, these greats might never have had the opportunity to put their personal greatness on display and receive the accolades they so richly deserved. And Americans might have to visit a very much reduced Baseball Hall of Fame.
The reason why Jackie Robinson is the greatest athlete ever is because he was a fantastic athlete in his own right who singlehandedly empowered hundreds of other professional black athletes and inspired millions of other African American men and women across the nation to achieve .
