Thank you, Jackie

Willie Mays. Juan Marichal. Frank Robinson. Hank Aaron. All are baseball Hall of Famers and all owe a debt to one man.

Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson.

Sunday signified the 60th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier in professional sports and, to commemorate the historic event, Jules Tygiel traveled to Cal Poly to remember Robinson.

Tygiel, a San Francisco State history professor, is a prominent Robinson historian and presented “The Enduring Legacy of Jackie Robinson” speech Monday to a Chumash Auditorium audience so large that Cal Poly had to open the adjacent wall to a larger room to accommodate fire marshal rules.

But why was Robinson’s integration so important?

Before Brown v. Board of Education, before Rosa Parks, before Martin Luther King Jr., there was Robinson.

In a post-World War II United States, the U.S. experienced an economic boom, emerged as the dominant world power and developed a society envied the world over. But stuck at the bottom of that society were African-Americans, who still felt the sting of segregation throughout that “envied” society.

Then Robinson stepped in.

In 1945, Robinson was the hand-picked selection by then-Brooklyn Dodgers club president and general manager Branch Rickey to integrate baseball. For most of the 20th century, baseball was, as Tygiel described it, “the biggest game in town” and a major change in America’s pastime meant a major change in America was to come.

On April 15, 1947, Robinson played his first game as a major-league baseball player and the reverberations sent shockwaves throughout baseball and America. He symbolized the need for change in America.

“It jolted (the U.S.) into awareness,” Tygiel said.

Once Americans were aware a black man was playing with white men, there was much outcry for Robinson’s removal from baseball. But there was no removing Robinson.

Tygiel captured the curiosity surrounding Robinson at the time of his integration: “Who is that player?”

Fans, both white and black, flocked to Ebbets Field to find out about “that player.” Robinson’s play won over fans and critics alike with his exciting, aggressive baseball style, previously seen mostly in the all-black Negro leagues. In nine seasons (all with the Dodgers), he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947, MVP honors in 1949, a World Series ring in 1955 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962 as the first African-American so honored.

Robinson retired in 1957 and took that same aggressive style that won over the baseball community and brought it to civil rights activism.

He regularly marched with King and was a major figure in the civil rights movement. He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, toured the country giving speeches in support of the NAACP and its cause and collaborated with other organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Congress of Racial Equality.

Despite his impact on baseball and American society, Robinson was never fully satisfied.

“He always wanted more,” Tygiel said.