Before there was April 15, 1947, before columnists in The Sporting News debated whether he deserved a shot at the big leagues, before he was MVP of the International League, before all of that, there was March 4, 1946, the day Jackie Robinson reported to his first spring training with the Dodgers organization.
The big-league team had shifted its spring training to Daytona Beach, Fla., the week before, but "all eyes were still on Sanford, 40 miles away as the flamingo flies," TSN reported.
That's where Robinson, 27, and another Black player, pitcher John Wright, came to the spring camp of the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate.
That's when segregation in baseball was broken.
Dodgers president Branch Rickey's "last lecture to his kindergarten class on the eve of the arrival of the pair … was a plea for fair play," according to TSN.
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"We didn't sign (Robinson and Wright) because of political pressure," Rickey told the players. "We signed 'em because of our desire to have a winning team in Brooklyn. I would have signed an elephant as quickly if the elephant could have played center field.
"You have comported yourselves like gentlemen here. And I want you to go on being gentlemen. All I ask of you is that you be yourselves. I would further remind you that Clay Hopper, the Montreal manager, is himself a Mississippian."
Rickey's allusion to Hopper and, by regional connection, the Jim Crow-era South was interesting. The Royals manager reportedly had asked Rickey to assign Robinson to another team in the Dodgers organization so Hopper wouldn't face blowback in his home state.
Rickey refused.
Less than a month later, on April 2, Robinson was in the lineup when the Royals faced the Dodgers in an exhibition. The April 11, 1946, issue of The Sporting News not only deemed Robinson's first hit worthy of a headline, but offhandedly offered a peek at what Blacks faced:
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The coop-like wooden stands for (Black) people, out beyond the right field wing of the local grandstand, literally shook with a spasm of hysteria as Jackie Roosevelt Robinson came up with his first base hit of the spring exhibition schedule here, as the Royals trimmed Brooklyn, 6 to 1.
Imagine a coop-like structure, keeping Black fans separate from whites as Robinson and Wright — who were "housed with private families of their own race near the ball park, in line with Florida state segregation law," TSN noted — went about integrating baseball.
Imagine the joy those fans felt when Robinson got his first hit.
Imagine if Robinson, a World War II veteran, had been free to speak his mind.
Instead, he praised his Royals teammates, TSN reported.
"Everyone has been very helpful," he said. "I've been told how to play the different hitters and John here has picked up pointers on pitching."
The Dodgers also were picking up a strictly baseball scouting report on Robinson as Hopper, according to TSN's report, planned to give him "a thorough trial" at second because "Montreal is shy of midway guardians."
"He hasn't got a great arm, but he gets the ball away very fast," Hopper said early in camp. "He covers a lot of ground and has a good pair of hands. He hasn't started to hit yet. The pitchers have been feeding him curve balls. He has fanned on curves, but he didn't look bad going after 'em."
Rickey's prediction early that spring: "He'll make the Montreal team this year. And he definitely is a big league prospect."
TSN added: "Hopper is of the opinion that Robinson may develop into a pretty good hitter. He likes the cut Robinson takes."
Robinson, in fact, developed into more than a pretty good hitter that season. He batted .349 and led the International League champion Royals to a Junior World Series victory over the American Association's Louisville Colonels.
Afterward, The Sporting News ran a story under the headline, "Robinson Is Determined to Win Dodger Post in '47." In it, Robinson, finally feeling able to express himself honestly, talked about what he'd gone through in 1946, a harbinger of 1947.
"All season I have been under terrific pressure," Robinson said. "It required all my stamina and determination to justify the faith Mr. Rickey and others had in my ability. I knew that my every move was being watched and everything I did required the deepest concentration.
"In a way it was an ordeal and I don't know if I would like to go through it again, but if I can make a place in the majors I know the reward will be well worth the try."
