101 Facts About Jackie Robinson

1. Jackie Robinson worked a number of jobs to support Jackie Robinson and his brothers and sisters.

2. Jackie Robinson got his middle name from President Theodore Roosevelt, who died shortly before Robinson was born.

3. Jackie Robinson was traded from the Dodgers to the Giants but decided to instead end his career and not play with the new team.

4. Jackie Robinson actually shared a birthday with other baseball Hall of Fame members Ernie Banks and Nolan Ryan, according to the Hall of Fame.

5. Jackie Robinson married a woman he met while at UCLA named Rachel Isum and together the two had three children together.

6. Jackie Robinson played in the city during spring training in 1946 with the Montreal Royals.

7. Jackie Robinson was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas for a bit, and in 2016 the base named its softball field after him.

8. Jackie Robinson remains the only UCLA athlete to ever letter in four sports.

9. On that 1939 team, Jackie Robinson was one of four African American players for the Bruins, which made it the most integrated major college football team at the time.

10. Jackie Robinson enrolled at UCLA in 1939 and again was a four-sport letter-winner in football, basketball, track and field and baseball.

11. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, but his family moved to Pasadena, California in 1920.

12. Jackie Robinson was an exceptional athlete and a civil rights leader.

13. Jackie Robinson kicked up dirt with his spikes but made no protest.

14. Jackie Robinson fielded his position admirably, but was held hitless in three attempts.

15. Jackie Robinson suffered from diabetes and heart disease and ultimately died of a heart attack.

16. Jackie Robinson went on to have a few notable Chicago moments as a Major Leaguer as well.

17. Jackie Robinson is one of three players in MLB history born in Cairo, Georgia.

18. Jackie Robinson played under the cloud of overt racism that even affected his election in the Class of 1962 to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

19. Jackie Robinson has retired from baseball and now lives in Connecticut with his family.

20. Jackie Robinson was a terrific athlete, but was still something of an unfinished baseball prospect.

21. Jackie Robinson played himself in The Jackie Robinson Story, a biopic about his life released in 1950.

22. Jackie Robinson was the first Black player elected to the Hall of Fame and his number 42 is the only one permanently retired in all of Major League Baseball.

23. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919 and his family moved to Pasadena in 1920.

24. Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers at age 28 and played 10 seasons with the team.

25. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

26. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

27. Jackie Robinson went four for five during that game, with a three-run homer.

28. Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in the professional league.

29. Jackie Robinson ended his football career to take a job as athletic director at Sam Houston College in Texas, where he coached the basketball team, in 1945.

30. Jackie Robinson went on to play all four sports at UCLA and was the first athlete at the school to win varsity letters in all four sports.

31. In 1968, Jackie Robinson went to the defense of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the aftermath of their demonstration on the victory stand during the Mexico City Games when they raised their fists during the national anthem.

32. Jackie Robinson said she thinks her father would embrace an athlete like Colin Kaepernick, whose protest during the national anthem beginning in 2016 resulted in his banishment from the NFL.

33. Jackie Robinson enrolled in the Army in search of a disciplined environment, served in the Vietnam War, and was wounded in action on November 19, 1965.

34. Jackie Robinson became one of six national directors for Nelson Rockefeller's unsuccessful campaign to be nominated as the Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election.

35. Jackie Robinson served as the bank's first chairman of the board.

36. Jackie Robinson was elected on the first ballot, becoming the first black player inducted into the Cooperstown museum.

37. Jackie Robinson was the subject of a 2016 PBS documentary, Jackie Robinson, which was directed by Ken Burns and features Jamie Foxx doing voice-over as Robinson.

38. Jackie Robinson portrayed himself in the 1950 motion picture The Jackie Robinson Story.

39. Jackie Robinson led the league in fielding among second basemen in 1950 and 1951.

40. Jackie Robinson accumulated 197 stolen bases in total, including 19 steals of home.

41. Jackie Robinson had hoped to gain experience by managing in the Puerto Rican Winter League, but according to the New York Post, Commissioner Happy Chandler denied the request.

42. Jackie Robinson believed that everything unpleasant that happened to him happened because of his blackness.

43. Jackie Robinson kept the Dodgers in contention for the 1951 pennant.

44. Jackie Robinson was not necessarily the best player in the Negro leagues, and black talents Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson were upset when Robinson was selected first.

45. Jackie Robinson appeared in the 1945 East–West All-Star Game, going hitless in five at-bats.

46. Jackie Robinson took a job as an assistant athletic director with the government's National Youth Administration.

47. Jackie Robinson was one of four black players on the Bruins' 1939 football team; the others were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett.

48. Jackie Robinson was a shortstop and leadoff hitter for the baseball team, and he broke school broad-jump records held by his brother Mack.

49. Jackie Robinson influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the civil rights movement.

50. Jackie Robinson was an American baseball player who was the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball.

51. In 1947, Jackie Robinson won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award and in 1949, took home the National League's Most Valuable Player award.

52. Jackie Robinson is a household name today because he was the first player to break the color barrier of Major League Baseball.

53. Jackie Robinson was drafted into the military and served in the Army from 1941 to 1944.

54. Jackie Robinson had a very successful start to his career.

55. Jackie Robinson started his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

56. Jackie Robinson was courageous in his battle for equality and his skills set him apart.

57. Jackie Robinson is a famous name because he was the first African-American to play professional baseball in the Major Leagues.

58. Jackie Robinson was memorialized in 1982 when he became the first baseball player to have his image included on a US postage stamp.

59. Jackie Robinson played a total of 10 years for the Dodgers, retiring after the 1956 season.

60. On that day in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line and became the first African American to play on a major sports team.

61. Jackie Robinson endured unthinkable abuse from fans and occasionally players, but carried himself with dignity and poise as he helped the organization to six National League pennants and the 1955 World Series championship.

62. Jackie Robinson was only the second baseball player to receive the award, after Roberto Clemente.

63. Jackie Robinson made his final public appearance on October 15, 1972.

64. Jackie Robinson was disappointed at the turn of events and wrote a letter to Rickey, whom he considered a father figure.

65. With the game Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to openly play for a minor league team and against a major league team since the baseball color line had been put in place in the 1880s.

66. Jackie Robinson had no illusions about the purpose of his meeting with the Dodgers.

67. Jackie Robinson died in Stamford, Connecticut, on October 24, 1972, suffering from heart and diabetes-related problems.

68. Jackie Robinson became the highest-paid player in Dodgers history but was traded to the New York Giants in 1956; he retired shortly thereafter.

69. Jackie Robinson joined the US Army and was promoted to second lieutenant but never saw combat.

70. Jackie Robinson was honored in 1972 when he was asked to throw out the ball for the second game of the World Series.

71. In the early 1970s, Jackie Robinson was vocal in pushing for an African American manager in professional baseball.

72. Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

73. Jackie Robinson became a successful businessman who supported political causes that enhanced the lives of African Americans.

74. Jackie Robinson was traded in December 1956 to the New York Giants.

75. Jackie Robinson remembered his promise to Rickey and tried to let his playing speak for his character.

76. Jackie Robinson changed his mind when Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey approached him with a job offer.

77. Jackie Robinson channeled his frustration and anger over racism into sports.

78. Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player to play in the major leagues.

79. Jackie Robinson became active in Republican Party politics, supporting Richard Nixon in 1960 and working closely with New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who appointed him Special Assistant for Community Affairs in 1966.

80. Jackie Robinson repeatedly pressed for baseball to desegregate more rapidly and to remove discriminatory barriers in Florida training camps and cities like St Louis and Cincinnati.

81. Jackie Robinson became an outstanding athlete at Pasadena Junior College before transferring to the University of California at Los Angeles in 1940, where he won renown as the "Jim Thorpe of his race", the nation's finest all-around athlete.

82. Jackie Robinson left college to support his mother, but in 1941 played professional football with the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast League.

83. Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility.

84. In the article, Jackie Robinson claimed that his body had passed its prime and could no longer perform at the major league level.

85. Jackie Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League in 1945 for a reported $400 a month.

86. Jackie Robinson left college before graduating, having used up his athletic eligibility.

87. In 1948, Jackie Robinson switched from first base to second base and came alive.

88. In 1945, Jackie Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs as a shortstop.

89. Jackie Robinson achieved the rank of lieutenant and became a morale officer for a black unit at Fort Hood, Texas, where the Army's policy of segregation finally got the best of him.

90. In 1937, Jackie Robinson enrolled at Pasadena Junior College, moving from football, to basketball, to baseball, and track, at times competing in two sports simultaneously.

91. Jackie Robinson sharpened his skills on the streets, then put them to use at John Muir Technical High, where he starred on the baseball, football, basketball, and track teams.

92. Jackie Robinson is most remembered as the player who broke baseball's color barrier.

93. Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball's color barrier when he plays first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

94. Jackie Robinson is the first African-American to be featured on a US gold coin.

95. Jackie Robinson is awarded, posthumusly, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

96. Jackie Robinson is inducted in to Baseball's Hall of Fame.

97. Jackie Robinson steals home in game 1 of the 1955 World Series.

98. Jackie Robinson makes his Major League debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American player in modern baseball history.

99. Jackie Robinson signs to play with the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team.

100. Jackie Robinson appeared on a US postage stamp in 1982.

101. Jackie Robinson used his celebrity to increase awareness about social injustice.