Today’s the Day We Remember WWII Veteran Jackie Robinson’s Baseball Breakthrough

April 15 is the anniversary of the day in 1947 that Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball as he became the first African American to take the field in the bigs as the second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It's become a huge celebration in ballparks all over the country as every player wears Robinson's number 42 on his jersey. Since the number has been retired by every team, that's the only day we see a 42 on the field during a major league game.

Well, it's 2020 and nobody's playing baseball today so the MLB social media is doing its best to remember Robinson's legacy. PBS has joined the tributes by offering free streaming of Ken Burns' acclaimed 2016 documentary "Jackie Robinson." You can watch the film at this link.

Running nearly four hours in two parts, the film also explores the history of race in the 20th-century U.S. and Robinson's crucial role in changing attitudes in white America.

Robinson was born in the dirt-poor southwest town of Cairo, Georgia, and was raised in Pasadena, California, after his father abandoned the family and his mother migrated west. He made his mark by lettering in four sports at UCLA (football, baseball, track and basketball).

Drafted into the Army in 1942, Robinson qualified for officer training and was assigned to an all-black unit at Fort Riley, Kansas. His military career fell apart in July 1944 when he refused to move to the back of a bus after a white officer's wife boarded. He went through court-martial proceedings but was eventually acquitted on all charges.

The proceedings prevented Robinson from being deployed to Europe with his unit, and he was honorably discharged in November of that year.

Those Army experiences are part of the reason that Dodgers executive Branch Rickey believed that Robinson was uniquely qualified to handle the pressure and abuse that would come with being the first African American player in baseball history.

After his playing days were over, Robinson became a key figure in the civil rights movement. There's plenty of baseball in the PBS film, so if you're missing the games, the documentary is a great way to get a fix.

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