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Jackson Creek Middle School
American Heroes: Jackie Robinson
Career in the Majors
In 1944, Jackie Robinson was called to a meeting
with Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey. This meeting was to inform
Jackie about an experiment that Mr. Rickey was going to do using
Jackie. The experiment was to get Jackie into the Major Leagues.
In the following spring, Jackie signed with the
Montreal Monarchs, which is the #1 farm club of the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
Jackie began spring training with the Montreal
Monarchs. After a session down in Florida, where Jackie had had
to have separate housing because the hotel the rest of the team
was staying at would not allow blacks to enter and room. After
one of the sessions down in Florida, Jackie was sent back up to
Montreal before the rest of the team. Jackie was told was
that they wanted him to have more time to settle in before
training had started. The real reason was that some people on the
team had complained about him being there and had wanted him
taken out of the city.
Back in Montreal, the try-outs resumed when the rest
of the team returned from Florida. Jackie had an extremely bad
batting average and did not bat well at try-outs.
Also during try-outs, they had a scrimmage and Jackie
had an opportunity to make a double-play, but could not get the
ball back to first in time. After the scrimmage, a fellow player
offered to help teach him how to do better on a double play. In
the scrimmage the next day, he was faced with another double-play
and he remembered what the other player had taught him.
When the double-play came up, he made it and got both of the
runners out. That scrimmage was on the final day of try-outs. The
next day, Jackie found out that he had made the team.
Later in the season, in a series of three games
against Philidelphia, every time that Jackie went up to bat, the
Phillies players would constantly taunt him. The other players on
Jackie's team had also made fun of him in the first game, but
when they saw how it hurt him, they stopped. When the Phillies'
players saw how much their taunting hurt Jackie, they just
taunted him more.
The series went all three games because Jackie had
just drowned out the taunts and helped his team to win. In the
second game, the taunting was worse and he took more of it to
heart. He did not play well because of the taunting and the
team lost the game. In the third game, Jackie's team started
defending him against the taunts and he succedded in making his
first home run which won the game for the Monarchs.
By: Chris H.
Last Updated: December 10, 2001
