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    Daring Play: How a Courageous Jackie Robinson Transformed Baseball
    Daring Play: How a Courageous Jackie Robinson Transformed Baseball
    Daring Play: How a Courageous Jackie Robinson Transformed Baseball
    Ebook83 pages38 minutes

    Daring Play: How a Courageous Jackie Robinson Transformed Baseball

    By Michael Burgan

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    About this ebook

    On and off the field, Jackie Robinson never backed down from a challenge. The baseball legend broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, changing the sport forever. It was eight years later that a photo of him stealing home during the 1955 World Series became one of the most famous images from his historic career. The iconic photo of his daring base running seemed to sum up the way Robinson lived his life. He acted on his own, doing what he thought was right. He took risks. He used his talents the best way he knew how. And he made baseball—and the world—a better place.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateJan 1, 2016
    ISBN9780756554118
    Author

    Michael Burgan

    Michael Burgan has written more than 250 books for children and young adults. His specialty is history, with an emphasis on biography. A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in history, Burgan is also a produced playwright and the editor of The Biographer’s Craft, the newsletter for Biographers International Organization. He first started writing for children as an editor at Weekly Reader before beginning his freelance career in 1994. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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      Book preview

      Daring Play - Michael Burgan

      Cover

      Chapter One

      PLAYING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP

      With almost 64,000 fans filling Yankee Stadium, Jackie Robinson was ready to play. His Brooklyn Dodgers had reached the World Series four times during Robinson’s career. Each time they had faced the powerful New York Yankees. Each time Robinson and his teammates had ended their season watching the Yankees celebrate another World Series title, making them the champions of Major League Baseball. Would the 1955 World Series be different?

      To the Dodgers and their fans, the Yankees were not just another team. Although the two teams played in different leagues and different parts of New York City, they were still rivals. The World Series gave fans of both the Yankees and the Dodgers a chance to see their favorite teams face off, with the winners getting to brag they were the best team in the city, not to mention the major leagues.

      But for the Brooklyn team, the bragging had been missing. They had never won a World Series and had only played in three before Robinson joined the team. The Yankees, meanwhile, had won 16 World Series before 1955, including five in a row from 1949 to 1953. Dodger fans affectionately called their team Dem Bums, but it was frustrating to watch the Dodgers lose season after season. All the fans could say was Wait ’til next year.

      The stars of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers were ready to take the field: Carl Furillo (from left), Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Preacher Roe, and Gil Hodges.

      A decade before the 1955 World Series, Robinson’s baseball skills and personality attracted the attention of Branch Rickey, the president, general manager, and part owner of the Dodgers. Rickey had decided that it was time for the major leagues to recruit their first African-American player. Rickey knew that the man chosen to break the color line that kept talented blacks out of the league had to be special. Racism was common across the country, and in many southern states segregation was a fact of life. African-Americans weren’t allowed as guests in hotels and restaurants meant for white customers. Most blacks in the South could not vote, and their children went to inferior schools.

      Before Jackie Robinson (left) moved up to the major league Dodgers, Branch Rickey signed him to a contract on October 23, 1945, to play with the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ top minor league team.

      Rickey wanted the first black player to be smart, brave, and able to withstand racism without reacting angrily. The player might seethe inside, but he would not respond to the taunts and discrimination he would face. Rickey was sure Robinson was the player he wanted. Yet after Robinson became a Dodger—and usually managed to keep his feelings inside—his self-respect and desire to win sometimes came to the surface. When he spoke his mind about racial issues or the treatment he received, some whites thought he was complaining too much. Stepping to the plate or taking his position on the field, Robinson often heard boos. A sportswriter told him that the press and some fans disliked him because he was too aggressive. Few white players would have been criticized for that, or for speaking honestly about their

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