Influences and Difficulties Jackie Had
Before Jackie’s professional baseball career, his older brother inspired him. Jackie’s older brother, Matthew Robinson, encouraged him to follow his love for athletics. A major influence in Jackie’s life was the time period he lived in. It was during the Civil Rights and it influenced him because of the racism he took from playing in different places for the Major Leagues. This helped Jackie become a leader and show people that being a different color doesn’t matter. Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to help end racial segregation in baseball. This also influenced Jackie because he later broke the color barrier in baseball.
On the other hand, Jackie had a great deal of difficulties that he faced during his life. Many of these difficulties he faced was when he played in the Major Leagues. During games, fans would throw bottles and invectives at him. Some of his teammates openly objected to have to play with him, and opposing teams would pitch balls at his head on purpose. When Jackie would slide into bases, the opposing team would spike him with their cleats on purpose. Also when Jackie would play, he got lots of insults, and him and his family would also receive threats, some of them were even death threats. Jackie had a rough time dealing with the abuse and insults because he promised Branch Rickey that he wouldn’t fight back since he wanted to help make a difference in the world by ending segregation in baseball. |