Who was the first African American MLB player? Breaking the Color Barrier in Baseball

The MLB has been a meritocracy for years. It is the best baseball league in the world, showing off skilled players from all nations, creeds, walks of life and backgrounds. Modern MLB is truly colorblind.

As of 2022, it was projected that while 58% of players in the league qualify as white, 32% of players are now hispanic, 7.7% of players are Black while about 3% of players are of East Asian origin. There is no doubt that the MLB is becoming more and more diverse.

But it wasn't always that way. In fact, there were times when Black players were not only disrespected and shunned, but were not even allowed to play in Major League Baseball.

Instead, they were only permitted to play in the so-called Negro Leagues. It was there that a young player named Jackie Robinson got his start playing baseball in the 1940s.

"Happy Burthday, Jackie Robinson" - Baseball History Nut

Jackie Robison was born in 1919 in Georgia. He was admitted to the Officer Candidates School (OCS) in Fort Riley, Kansas, in the 1940s and was one of the few Black applicants to gain entry. Robinson spent the war in the reserves, but he never saw action before his discharge in 1944.

After the war, Robinson played baseball at Sam Houston College in Tennessee and Robinson received a personal letter from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League. They were offering him a spot on the team. After hitting .347 in his first year in KC, big-league teams started to pay serious attention.

A year later, Robinson entered into a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers — a precursor to the LA Dodgers. In 1947, Robinson was called up to the Dodgers, becoming the first African American player in the MLB.

"Color shot of Jackie Robinson taking BP at Ebbets Field" - Baseball in Pics

Over the course of an 11-year career, Jackie Robinson hit 141 home runs, stole 200 bases and hit 761 RBIs. He finished with an MVP Award as well as a Rookie of the Year Award before retiring in 1956. Robinson died from a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 53.

Jackie Robinson continues to be the most celebrated icon in the MLB

Every April, teams around the MLB wear his number, 42, in respect. The number was retired league-wide in 1997, although New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera was the last player to wear the number. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame along with Cleveland Indians icon Bob Feller in 1962.