Breaking The Color Barrier: How Jackie Robinson changed Baseball forever

Jackie Robinson was the first non-white baseball player to make a team. In 1946, the entire league was White, but in 1947 that all changed. Branch Rickey, the then-Brooklyn Dodgers executive, decided in 1947 that he wanted to look into changing it.

Robinson had been tearing up the Negro Leagues as it continued to become more and more evident that there was real talent there. MLB was missing out because of the color barrier.

Rickey chose Robinson for a few reasons. First, because he was one of the top Negro Leagues players and had serious talent. Second, because he could play for the Brooklyn Dodgers at multiple positions.

Finally, Robinson's character played a big role. There was going to be pushback, even from other members of the Dodgers. Racism was thrown at Robinson every step of the way, and Rickey felt as if Robinson was the guy to try and withstand all of that in the name of breaking that barrier.

It wasn't easy and very few players that Robinson came into contact with made it easier, but by bringing Robinson over to the major leagues, the color barrier was broken.

Larry Dobby ended up being the second Black player to join the majors after Robinson. More came over after that, albeit slowly.

Now, according to Zippia.com, the 2022 MLB demographics show Latinos as 7.5% of MLB players, Blacks at 8.9% and Asians 3.7%. Those numbers would have been unheard of in 1947 when Robinson first came over.

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When did Jackie Robinson retire?

Jackie Robinson went on to win Rookie of the Year in 1947, proving he had the talent to stay in the MLB. He even won MVP in 1949 and was an All-Star seven times.

Jackie Robinson is honored league-wide

Overall, Robinson played 11 seasons, 10 of which were spent in Major League Baseball and all with the Dodgers. He retired in 1956 at the age of 37.

Without Jackie Robinson, it's very possible that Major League Baseball would look vastly different today. Many of today's stars would not have been able to participate in baseball before Robinson broke the color barrier all those years ago.