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   1936: Brother Mack Robinson wins an Olympic Silver second only to the great Jesse Owens in the 200-meter dash. 1938: April: Robinson participates in the JC Track Championships in Pomona, CA where he set a national junior-college AAU record in the broad jump. Subsequently, he races to Glendale and arrives at midgame to help Pasadena Junior College win the Championship in baseball by getting two hits and a stolen base. 1939: September: Jackie Enrolls at UCLA and goes on to become the school's first 4-letter man. 1941: After UCLA, Jackie was hired to play semi-pro football with the Honolulu Bears. Their first exhibition game was in Pearl Harbor. Jackie left Honolulu on December 5, 1941, just two days before the Japanese attacked. He was actually on the ship Lurline on his way home when Congress formally declared war. 1942: Jackie has a tryout with the Chicago White Sox . . . April 3: Jackie is inducted into the U.S. Army. 1943: Jackie earns a promotion to 2nd Lieutenant in the Army. 1944: April: Jackie becomes platoon leader of Company B of the 761st . . . July 6: Jackie refused to move to the back of a military bus at Fort Hood, Texas . . . August 2: Jackie faces a court-martial for his disobedience on July 6. He was acquitted on all charges . . . November 28: Jackie accepts an Honorable Discharge from active duty in the military and returns home to California. 1945: Spring: Jackie joins the Negro Baseball League and plays for the Kansas City Monarchs. He meets the great pitcher Satchel Paige and goes on to play on the American All Stars Team . . . April 16: Jackie has a tryout with the Boston Red Sox. Neither the manager nor the players showed up for Jackie's "tryout." . . . August 28: Jackie meets with Branch Rickey of the Dodgers and agrees to join the Dodger Organization . . . October 23: Jackie signs a contract to play with the Montreal Royals of the International League. He received a $3,500 bonus and $600 per month salary. 1946: February 10: Jackie and Rachel Isum are married at the Independent Church in Los Angeles . . . Spring: Jackie and Rachel arrive in Daytona Beach for Spring Training. Here he meets John Wright, another African American on the Montreal Roster. The Montreal Royals team is locked-out of the Ballpark in Sanford because of Jackie and John's presence on the team . . . Jackie plays his first professional baseball game for the Montreal Royals at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. Joe Cummiskey of the Jersey Journal wrote: "Jackie Robinson, first Negro player ever to play in organized baseball, broke in yesterday with the Montreal Royals - and with a bang. He smashed out four hits in five times up-a homer with two men on base and three singles. He stole two bases, drove in four runs, and scored from third twice by forcing Jersey City's pitchers into balks. Montreal won 14-1." . . . Montreal wins league: The Montreal Royals win the International League by 19 1/2 games and go on to win the Little World Series against the winners of the American Association the Louisville Colonels. Jackie finished the year as the International League batting champion, compiling a .349 average in 124 games . . . November 18: Jackie Robinson and Rachel have their first child, Jackie Robinson Jr. 1947: February: Both the Dodgers and the Montreal Royals hold their spring training in Havana, Cuba . . . April 10: The Brooklyn Dodgers announce the purchase of the contract of Jack Roosevelt Robinson from Montreal . . . April 15: Jackie makes his big-league debut against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. On this day, Jackie grounds out against Johnny Sain in his first at-bat. He goes 0-3 and scores a run . . . May 9: A strike threatened by the St. Louis Cardinals is abruptly stopped by National League President Ford Frick who stated "...The National League will go down the line with Robinson, whatever the consequence." . . . July 5: The Cleveland Indians announce the signing of 22-year old outfielder, Larry Doby of the Newark Eagles . . . August 27: The Dodgers bring up a second black player, 27-year old Dan Bankhand, a strikeout pitcher from the Memphis Red Sox . . . September 23: With Permission from the Dodgers, Jackie's admirers stage a Jackie Robinson Day for him at Ebbets Field where he and Rachel are presented with a new Cadillac. Jackie is also presented with a interracial goodwill plaque from Jack Semel, a season box holder and supporter. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, a great entertainer, presented Jackie with an inscribed gold wristwatch from Tiffany's, which he cherished and always wore. The Robinson's also received a television and cash gifts that day . . . October: Jackie is voted the first ever major league Rookie of the Year. Two years later they would give one to a member of each league. Jackie also finished fifth in the National League's Most Valuable Player voting. 1949: July 12: Jackie joins Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Larry Doby as the first African Americans to play in an All-Star Game . . . July 18: Jackie testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee about the role of blacks in the military . . . October: Jackie is named the National League Most Valuable Player. He wins the batting title by batting .342, with 203 hits, 124 RBI's and 37 stolen bases. 1950: January 13: Jackie and Rachel have their only daughter, Sharon Robinson . . . Jackie stars in his film biography The Jackie Robinson Story . . . October 26: Branch Rickey resigns as President of the Dodgers and Walter O'Malley is introduced as the new President of the team. 1952: May 14: Jackie's second son David Robinson is born. 1953: Winter: Dodger manager Chuck Dressen quits and is succeeded by a minor league manager in the system, Walter Alston. 1955: October 4: The Dodgers claim their first World Championship beating the Yankees by four games to three. 1957: January: Jackie announces his retirement as a professional baseball player . . . Robinson joins Chock Full O'Nuts, a restaurant and food chain, as Vice-President of community relations . . . June 7: Jackie Robinson, along with Martin Luther King, Jr., receives an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Howard University. 1958: Jackie Robinson acts as a spokesman and fundraiser for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). 1960: Jackie Campaigns for presidential candidate Richard Nixon. 1962: January 23: Jackie is elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on the first ballot . . . July 23: Jackie is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. 
His plaque reads: Brooklyn N.L. 1947 to 1956 holderformostdoubleplays
Led second baseman in double plays 1949-50-51-52. 1963: May: Jackie joins Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others in a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama. 1964: Jackie is named by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as one of six national directors of his presidential campaign. 1966: Jackie is appointed Special Assistant to the Governor by New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller. 1968: Jackie Robinson's mother, Mallie, passes away . . . Jackie is named National Chairman of the Brotherhood Week for the National Conference of Christians and Jews. 1970: The Jackie Robinson Construction Company is established to build housing for families with low and moderate incomes. 1971: June 17: Jackie Robinson Jr. is killed in an automobile accident. 1972: June 4: Jackie's number 42 is retired in a ceremony at Dodger Stadium along with Roy Campanella's number 39 and Sandy Koufax's number 32 . . . October 14: Jackie makes his last public appearance before the start of the second game of the World Series in Cincinnati. He said, "I'd like to live to see a black manager, I'd like to live to see the day when there is a black man coaching at third base." . . . October 23: Jackie Robinson dies of a heart attack at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the eulogy at the funeral, held at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. A portion of that eulogy is below: "Jackie's body was a temple of God, an instrument of peace that had no commitment to the idle gods of fame and materialism and empty awards and cheap trophies... Jackie, as a figure in history, was a rock in the water, hitting concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. Jackie, as a co-partner with God, was a balm in Gilead, in America, in Ebbets Field... When Jackie took the field, something within us reminded us of our birthright to be free. And Somebody without reminded us that is could be attained. There was strength and pride and power when the big rock hit the water, and concentric circles came forth and ripples of new possibility spread throughout the nation... He didn't integrate baseball for himself. He infiltrated baseball for all of us, seeking and looking for more oxygen for black survival, and looking for new possibility... His feet on the baseball diamond made it more than a sport, a narrative of achievement more than a game. For many of us...is was a gift, of new expectations, on that dash... He helped us to ascend from misery, to hope, on the muscles of his arms, and the meaning of his life. With Rachel, he made a covenant, where he realized that to live is to suffer, but to survive is to find meaning in that suffering. Today we can raise our hands and say Hallelujah... In his last dash, Jackie stole home. Pain, misery, and travail have lost. Jackie is saved. His enemies can leave him alone. His body will rest, but his spirit and his mind and his impact are perpetual and as affixed to human progress as are the stars in the heavens, the shine in the sun and the glow in the moon. This mind, this mission, could not be held down by a grave... No grave can hold this body down. It belongs to the ages, and all of us are better off because the temple of God, the man with convictions, the man with a mission passed this way."
1973: The Jackie Robinson Foundation is established. The JRF is a public, not-for-profit national organization founded by Rachel Robinson as a vehicle to perpetuate the memory of Jackie Robinson and his achievements. ⇒
1982: August 2: Robinson becomes the first baseball player ever to be depicted on a U.S. Postage Stamp called "Black Heritage".
1984: June 10: Jackie Robinson is inducted into UCLA's Hall of Fame . . . President Ronald Reagan awards Robinson the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.
1987: In 1987, on the 40th anniversary of his historic Major League debut, the National League Rookie of the Year award is named in Robinson's honor.
1996: The Jackie Robinson Foundation provides scholarships to 141 Jackie Robinson Scholars, for the year. The students attend more than 60 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 3,000 requests for scholarships are received each year.
1997: MLB celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jackie breaking baseball's color barrier by retiring his number 42 in perpetuity . . . Major League Baseball dedicates the season to Robinson on the 50th anniversary of his debut.
2004: MLB establishes April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day, an annual event when every club will recognize the important social contributions Robinson made to our country.
2005: On Wednesday, March 2, Jackie Robinson is awarded the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. President George W. Bush presented the medal to Robinson's family . . . On Nov. 1, the Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese Monument, which captures the watershed moment in May 1947 when Reese threw his arm around his new Brooklyn Dodgers teammate on the field in Cincinnati in a show of support for Major League Baseball's first African-American player, is unveiled in Brooklyn.
2007: For the 60th anniversary of Robinson's major league
debut, MLB invited players to wear the number 42 on Jackie Robinson Day in 2007. The gesture was originally the idea of outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. He asked for Rachel Robinson's permission to wear the number. After receiving her permission, Commissioner Bud Selig not only allowed Griffey to wear the number, but also gave an invitation to all major league teams to do the same. In the end, more than 200 players wore number 42, including everyone on the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The tribute was continued in 2008, when, during games on April 15, all members of the Mets, Cardinals, Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays wore Robinson's number 42.
2008: On June 25, 2008, MLB installed a new plaque for Robinson at the Baseball Hall of Fame commemorating his off-the-field impact on the game as well as his playing statistics.
His new plaque reads: "Jackie" Brooklyn, N.L., 1947 to 1956 A player of extraordinary ability renowned for his electrifying style of play. Over 10 seasons hit .311, scored more than 100 runs six times, named to six All-Star teams and led Brooklyn to six pennants and its only World Series title, in 1955. The 1947 Rookie of the Year, and the 1949 N.L. MVP when he hit a league-best .342 with 37 steals. Led second basemen in double plays four times and stole home 19 times. Displayed tremendous courage and poise in 1947 when he integrated the modern major leagues in the face of intense adversity. 2009: All uniformed personnel (players, managers, coaches, and umpires) wore number 42 on April 15. |
