Well, let me tell ya ’bout them Dodgers, back in ’47. That was a year, let me tell ya, a real year. Folks were talkin’ ’bout this fella, Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson, they said. Never heard of him before, not ’round these parts anyway.
He was gonna play for the Dodgers, see? And that was a big deal, a real big deal. Why? Well, ’cause he was a colored fella. And back then, colored fellas weren’t playin’ with the white fellas in the big leagues. Simple as that. It just wasn’t done. Folks said it was a “color barrier,” whatever that means. Sounded like some kinda fence to me.
So, this Jackie, he steps onto the field, Ebbets Field they called it, in Brooklyn. April 15th, 1947. Mark that date, folks said. It’s important. He was 28 years old, a grown man, but still, gotta be scary walkin’ into all that. Imagine, all those eyes starin’, some friendly, some… well, not so friendly.
- He was the first, you see.
- The first colored fella in the big leagues.
- In modern times, they said. Don’t know what that means exactly, probably happened before but a long, long time ago.
People were riled up, some happy, some mad as hornets. But Jackie, he just played ball. That’s what I heard, anyway. Didn’t see it myself, didn’t have no fancy TV back then. Just heard it on the radio, cracklin’ and spittin’. But they said he was good, real good. Fast as a rabbit, they said. Hit the ball hard, too.
The Dodgers, they were a good team that year. Finished first in the National League, they did. Beat out them St. Louis Cardinals, five games ahead. Ninety-four wins and sixty losses. That’s a lot of wins, even I know that. Heard tell they had a chance to win it all, the World Series, they called it.
Played against the Yankees, them city slickers from New York. Tough fellas, the Yankees. Went all the way to seven games, but the Dodgers… well, they lost. Yep, lost it all. But even losin’, they made history, see? ‘Cause of Jackie.
Folks watched him close, real close. Everythin’ he did, they watched. Every hit, every run, every mistake. Heard he won some kinda award, “Rookie of the Year” they called it. Means he was the best new fella, I reckon. And he helped the Dodgers win that National League thingy, the pennant. Imagine that, a colored fella doin’ all that.
It wasn’t easy, though. Not one bit. Folks were mean, real mean sometimes. Said nasty things, did nasty things. But Jackie, he kept playin’. He didn’t let ‘em get to him, not much anyway. He had grit, that fella. Real grit.
He showed ‘em, didn’t he? Showed ‘em that a colored fella could play ball just as good as any white fella. Maybe even better. Broke down that color barrier, like knockin’ down a fence, I guess. Opened the door for other colored fellas, they say. Now you see ’em all over the place, playin’ ball and doin’ all sorts of things. Times have changed, haven’t they?
And it all started, you see, with Jackie Robinson and them Dodgers, back in ’47. A big year, a real big year. Sixty years later, they said folks were still talkin’ about that game, Dodgers won it, five to three. Don’t remember the details myself but it must have been something. They say he made history. Guess he did. Yep, guess he did.
Dodgers 1947, that’s what they’ll remember. Not just the team, but Jackie. Jackie Robinson and the year he changed baseball. And maybe, just maybe, changed the world a little bit too.
