Facts About Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was a famous African-American baseball player and a sporting icon. He received innumerable sporting awards and is widely regarded as an American sporting legend. He also played a role in the black civil rights movement.

Facts about Jackie Robinson

• Jackie was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He was the youngest of five children.
• His middle name is Roosevelt in honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt.
• Robinson attended Washington Junior High School in 1935.
• Jackie held the National Junior College broad jump record.
• Jackie served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1945, during which he became Second Lieutenant.
• Robinson married Rachel Annetta Isum in 1946.
• Robinson became the first black major league baseball player in 1947.
• Jackie was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1947.
• Robinson led the National League in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949.
• Jackie led second basemen in double plays 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952.
• Robinson was selected as the National League Most Valuable Player in 1949.
• Robinson won the 1949 batting title with a .342.
• He was a member of the National League All-Star Team, 1949-1954.
• Jackie had a career batting average of .311 with the Dodgers, .333 in All-Star games.
• Robinson led the Dodgers to six World Series and one World Series Championship in a 10-year span.
• Jackie’s older brother was in the Olympics.
• Jackie’s picture was on a US postage stamp.
• Robinson played baseball, basketball, football and track.
• Jackie retired from major league baseball in 1956.
• He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, the first black to gain the honor.
• Jackie starred in the movie ‘The Jackie Robinson Story’ in 1950.
• Robinson opened a men's apparel store on 125th street in Harlem from 1952-1958.
• Jackie signed a contract with WNBC and WNBT to serve as Director of Community Activities in 1952.
• Robinson became Vice President of Chock Full o'Nuts in 1957.
• Jackie served in numerous campaigns and on the board of directors for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) from 1957-1967.
• Robinson was almost blind in middle age itself.
• He suffered from diabetes and heart disease in middle age.
• Jackie wrote his autobiography ‘I Never Had It Made’.
• Baseball honored Jackie’s memory by removing his uniform number 42 from the back of any other player in the game's future.
• Jackie formed the Jackie Robinson Construction Company in 1970 to build housing for families with low incomes.
• Robinson died of a heart attack on October 24, 1972 in Stamford, Connecticut.
• Jackie was inducted into UCLA's Hall of Fame on June 10, 1984.
• In December 1956, the NAACP recognized Jackie Robinson with the Spingarn Medal, which it awards annually for the highest achievement by an African-American.
• In 1976, Jackie’s home in Brooklyn, the Jackie Robinson House, was declared a National Historic Landmark.
• In March 1984, US President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Jackie the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• In 1999, Time Magazine named Robinson on its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
• The Chicago Public School system has named an elementary school after Jackie.
• On August 20, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Jackie would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame on December 5, 2007 located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento.