NOT JUST A GAME Opening day 1947 brought OAt the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers At the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers 26,623 fans to Ebbets Field in New York City New York the crowd watched history being the crowd watched history being made In the seventh inning the made In the seventh inning the Dodgers trailed the Boston Braves Dodgers trailed the Boston Braves by a run The Dodgers first hitter by a run The Dodgers first hitter Eddie Stanky reached first base Eddie Stanky reached first base That brought Jackie Robinson to That brought Jackie Robinson to home plate home plate Robinson was the first African American to play major league American to play major league baseball since Moses Fleetwood baseball since Moses Fleetwood Robinson stole 29 bases in his first season for Robinson stole 29 bases in his first season for the Dodgers the Dodgers ABD_PROG_ROBI_FPGS indd
Walker a catcher for the 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings So far he hadn’t given the crowd much to cheer about But if the Dodgers could get Stanky around all of the bases they could tie the game Robinson laid down a perfect bunt Stanky scampered to second base while Boston’s first baseman rushed his throw The ball hit Robinson and sailed toward the outfield Stanky and Robinson kept running each gaining another base Up next Pete Reiser hit a double landing him on second base and both Stanky and Robinson scored The Dodgers took WHAT’S A DODGER The Dodgers team dates to the 1850s During that early era baseball writers gave the teams often-changing nicknames They named the Brooklyn squad the Atlantics the Grays the Bridegrooms and then just the Grooms In 1895 the writers came up with Trolley Dodgers It was a grim fact that in the streets of Brooklyn new electric trolleys were running down many pedestrians The name Dodgers first appeared on the team’s uniform in 1933 That name stuck with the squad after it moved to Los Angeles California in 1958
the lead and went on to win the game 5 3 Reiser got most of the attention in the next day’s papers But Jackie Robinson had proven that African Americans could succeed in baseball Taking a Chance There was no rule against African Americans playing professional baseball But many states kept the races apart by custom or by law There seemed to be a silent agreement among team owners PERSPECTIVES THE FIRST BLACK PLAYER Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first African American to play in the big leagues In 1884 the American Association admitted his Toledo Ohio Blue Stockings to the league Walker didn’t have the same athletic ability as Robinson The Blue Stockings cut him at the end of the season Walker’s experiences made him feel as though black and white people would never get along He wrote All experience and every deduction from human nature and human conduct are against the attempt to harmonize two alien races under the same government
