Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was, like Muhammad Ali in the 1960s, one of the most influential sports figures of his day. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was the catalyst that broke baseball’s color barrier –– the idea that African American players couldn’t play in the top professional leagues, but only in the “inferior” Negro leagues. Jackie Robinson career spanned a decade, and his place in the annals of baseball history was solidified when his jersey number, 42, was “retired” by all MLB teams (meaning no player may ever use that number again) in 1997.