On the blog today, we move on to the next stage of the great Jackie Robinson's sports career in my 1972 tribute thread, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his MLB debut of 1947.
Today we have his time in the Negro Leagues, playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945:
The road to
baseball was still a long way off, as Robinson would put in a military
stretch that formed the path that would lead to the sport somewhat by
"accident", as he would return to semi-pro football, put time in Samuel
Huston College as Athletic Director, then as coach of the school's
basketball team, until being contacted by the Kansas City Monarchs of
the Negro Leagues for a tryout after he wrote to the team at the
encouragement of a former player that he met while stationed at Camp
Breckinridge, Kentucky a year or so earlier.
Well, the young man would NOT disappoint!
All
Robinson would do in arguably his fourth best sport was lead the Negro
Leagues with 13 doubles and four home runs over 34 games, making the
All-Star team, and ending up with a blistering .375 batting average
while slugging an even .600 with a .449 on-base-percentage.
Over
those 34 games he drove in 27 runs for the Monarchs, while also scoring
25 himself, collecting 45 hits and stealing three bases, giving
everyone, especially some Major League scouts and owners, a look at what
he could do on a baseball diamond.
Of
course, the mindset of many was evolving, and thankfully the game, and
our nation was about to change for the better, with Jackie's debut in
Major League baseball just two years later, when Branch Rickey of the
Brooklyn Dodgers signed the young man, instantly giving everyone an
elite player, but more importantly a new hero.
Up next, a card celebrating the next stage of Robinson's career, which took him North of the border!
Stay tuned...
