true the four seasons of jackie robinson

How did Pasadena and his time at UCLA shape him? Your book doesn’t focus much on his childhood: Born in Georgia but raised in Pasadena.

If he didn’t become aggressive, would he have been MVP that year? His ability to react to the different situations but hold true to his beliefs is something we can learn from. But after that he becomes an agitator, much more open and engaged in discussing important civil rights issues. There was a consistency to his approach, yet he was clearly very adaptive on and off the field.īefore 1949 he didn’t want a newspaper column because he didn’t want to stir up controversy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. “Jackie Robinson gave them a way to understand things they weren’t taught in school.” “They were stand-ins for thousands of kids and lessons they absorbed,” Kennedy says. “I’m hoping these microscopic slices that show him at different stages reveal aspects of Jackie that haven’t been emphasized as much before,” Kennedy said in a video interview.Īnd since Robinson’s epitaph reads: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,” Kennedy also spoke to white Brooklyn Dodgers fans who credited him with changing their minds and their lives. But Kennedy takes a unique approach by focusing largely on four particular years, foregrounding untold or overlooked stories to bring Robinson vividly to life:ġ946, when he broke the color barrier in the minor leagues 1949, his MVP year and a turning point in his battle with racist players 1956, as Robinson neared retirement and cast his eye toward other prizes and 1972, the year of his death and his final reconciliations with the sport and the world. Kostya Kennedy’s engrossing and entertaining new book, “ True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson,” joins a long list of biographies (and autobiographies) of the player. Robinson was a pioneer of the civil rights movement, breaking ground before President Truman integrated the troops, before Rosa Parks refused to move, before the Rev. The truth is far richer and more complicated. But in the half century since his early death, as with any legend burnished over time, his story has been worn smooth - often reduced to his accomplishments during that historic season.

Seventy-five years later, this Friday, every major leaguer will wear 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, a reminder of Robinson’s lasting influence. Before heading out to become the first Black baseball player in Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson joked to his wife that he’d be easy to spot: “I’ll be number 42.” (Associated Press)Īpril 15, 1947, dawned wet and cold. Jackie Robinson steals home plate as Boston Braves catcher Bill Salkeld is thrown off–balance during the fifth inning at Ebbets Field in New York on Aug.

True the four seasons of jackie robinson