The Influence of Jackie Robinson

This weekend, I saw “42,” which is a movie about Jackie Robinson. Being a huge baseball fan, I had been looking forward to seeing it for a long time. What I saw surprised me.

We always hear how much Jackie Robinson impacted the world of baseball. This movie shows it perfectly. I’ve never witnessed racism like I saw in the movie, mostly because of people like Robinson, that hateful racist ideology was (largely) erased by the time I was born.

The movie shows Branch Rickey (the man who brought Robinson to Major League Baseball) talking with people about bringing an African-American to the majors. After going through a list of names, Rickey comes across Jackie Robinson, a 26-year-old player in the Negro League. Rickey saw it as an opportunity to make more money, since African-Americans would absolutely pay to see a black player.

From watching the movie, I could tell that Jackie Robinson was the perfect person to break the color barrier. He had fire. Branch Rickey allowed Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s wife, to go to spring training and other events with him. She was the only wife allowed to do this. Rachel was a big part in Robinson performing as well as he did and being able to keep his cool.

In the movie, Robinson faced criticism from white fans and even other managers and players. He couldn’t fight back because he would get in trouble and the fault would be seen as solely his. His teammates stood up for him, seeing that color doesn’t matter, he was a good player and a good man.

Every year on April 15, major league baseball players honor Jackie Robinson by wearing his number, which has been retired by all of baseball. People have written countless tweets about Robinson’s influence on the game and how he inspired them. April 15 was the day Robinson broke the color barrier.

Even if you’re not a sports fan, check this movie out. It brought tears to many viewers’ eyes, whether it was through the tough situations Robinson had to go through, or the humor that was sprinkled in.