Jackie Robinson
Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954
Second baseman
Born: January 31, 1919 Cairo, Georgia, U.S.
Died: October 24, 1972 (aged 53) Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
NgL: 1945, for the Kansas City Monarchs
MLB: April 15, 1947, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 10, 1956, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
MLB statistics
Batting average	.313
Home runs	141
Runs batted in	761
Teams
Negro leagues Kansas City Monarchs (1945) Major League Baseball Brooklyn Dodgers (1947–1956)
Career highlights and awards
NgL All-Star (1945) 6× All-Star (1949–1954) World Series champion (1955) NL MVP (1949) MLB Rookie of the Year (1947) NL batting champion (1949) 2× NL stolen base leader (1947, 1949) Los Angeles Dodgers No. 42 retired No. 42 retired by all MLB teams UCLA Bruins No. 42 retired[1] Monument Park honoree Major League Baseball All-Century Team
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1962
Vote	77.5% (first ballot)
Military career Allegiance United States Service/branch United States Army Years of service 1942–1944 Rank Second lieutenant Unit 761st Tank Battalion

Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era.^[2] Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.^[3] When the Dodgers signed Robinson, it heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.^[4] Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.^[5]

During his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949—the first black player so honored.^[6][7] Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Series championship.

In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number 42 across all major league teams; he was the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored. MLB also adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", for the first time on April 15, 2004, on which every player on every team wears No. 42.

Robinson's character, his use of nonviolence, and his talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation that had then marked many other aspects of American life. He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the civil rights movement.^[8][9] Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB and the first black vice president of a major American corporation, Chock full o'Nuts. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem, New York. After his death in 1972, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his achievements on and off the field.