Page 9 - My FlipBook
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money their MLB counterparts earned, and games lacked the media coverage and
fanfare of the big leagues.
World War II (1939–1945) played a role in opening MLB to everyone. US
soldiers of all colors fought and died together in Europe and in the Pacific theater.
In Europe the United States battled Nazi Germany. Led by dictator Adolf Hitler,
the Nazis preached German racial superiority and killed people of other ethnic
backgrounds—especially Jewish people—by the millions. When the United States
and its allies won the war in 1945, many soldiers, including some baseball players,
came back with new views on race relations. If soldiers of different races could share
a battlefield, why couldn’t they share a baseball field?
Branch Rickey was general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was ready to
change the game. In October 1945, Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, an infielder
in the Negro Leagues, to a contract. In 1946 Robinson played for the Montreal
Royals, then a minor-league team of the Dodgers. On April 15, 1947, he finally
took the field for the Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color barrier. Three days later,
Hilldale Club was one of the best Negro Leagues teams in the 1920s.
tHe LOng HIstOry Of tHe LOng BaLL 11
