www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 092014 012015 Cover Photo John Rooney AP Images Interior Photos John Rooney AP Images 1 AP Images 4 9 10 13 14 17 23 29 Bettmann Corbis 7 24 27 30 33 34 36 38 41 Ed Widdis AP Images 18 Nam Y Huh AP Images 43 Editor Chrös McDougall Series Designer Craig Hinton Library of Congress Control Number 2014944196 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smolka Bo Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier Bo Smolka p cm Greatest events in sports history ISBN 978-1-62403-594-4 lib bdg Includes bibliographical references and index 1 Baseball United States History Juvenile literature 2 African American baseball players United States Juvenile literature I Title 796 357 dc23 2014944196
CONTENTS ONE Baseball’s Color Barrier 5 TWO Rickey’s Great Experiment 11 THREE Well This Is It 19 FOUR Will He Get the Call 25 FIVE A Major Test 31 SIX Jackie Robinson’s Legacy 39 Timeline 44 Glossary 45 For More information 46 Index 48 About the Author 48
5 1 CHAPTER The Newark Little Giants took the field for an exhibition game in 1887 against the Chicago White Stockings Set to start for the Giants was George Stovey a black pitcher White Stockings player-manager Adrian Cap Anson reacted angrily What’s he doing here Anson implied Get him off the field Anson said his team would not play against any team with black players Scenes such as those were common at that time The United States was not very united at all It was deeply divided by race In many places particularly in the South blacks faced discrimination of every kind Signs outside hotels restaurants Baseball’s Color Barrier Adrian Cap Anson was influential in forcing black players out of organized baseball during the late 1800s
