Finding 42

If you’ve been to a Major League Baseball game, you may have noticed a large number 42 somewhere in the stadium. High above one ballpark, the number appears on a banner that flaps in the wind. In another, it hangs from the outfield fence. In others, it can be seen on the scoreboard or on a “wall of fame.”

Ball teams sometimes retire numbers of outstanding players when their careers end. That means no player will ever wear that number for that team again. 

Forty-two is so special that no new player on any Major League teams will ever be assigned to wear it on a daily basis. 

Forty-two was the number worn by Jackie Robinson. 

Jackie Robinson was a great baseball player. But his number has not been retired just because of his greatness on the field. Robinson changed baseball forever. And as baseball changed for the better, so did America.

An All-Sport Star

When he was a child, Jackie Robinson excelled in many sports. By the time he reached the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), he was a standout in baseball, basketball, football, and track and field. After college, he served in the Army. Then, in April 1945, Robinson signed with the Kansas City Monarchs, a team in the Negro League. It was the only league that would accept a Black player. 

Then, on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made history when he stepped onto the field wearing number 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first Black player on a modern Major League Baseball team. Some spectators booed him, thinking that an African American man should not be allowed in the league. Robinson would hear those jeers for many years.

In some places in the United States, laws and rules segregated people based on the color of their skin. Separate schools were set up for Blacks and whites, as well as separate hospitals, bathrooms, and even water fountains. Because of segregation, Robinson couldn’t eat in some restaurants with his teammates or stay in the same hotels when they visited certain cities. Yet he played on, and he gave a face to the unfairness. 

Robinson’s situation helped make many people aware of these unfair rules. They wondered how America could truly be a free country with this way of life. Eventually, new laws were passed to eliminate some of the unfairness.

In his ten seasons, Robinson had more than 1,500 hits and a career batting average of .311. His courage inspired many people to pursue their own dreams. 

On April 15, 1997, exactly fifty years after Robinson’s first major league game, the Dodgers played against the Mets at New York’s Shea Stadium. Acting Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig stood before a microphone and reminded the crowd of the day when baseball became a game for everyone. 

Selig declared that in honor of Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments, the number 42 would be retired from all Major League teams and forever displayed in the stadiums. 

This time the crowd cheered for Robinson and the way he’d played the game. He had never responded negatively to the boos and jeers — they had just made him play harder. He didn’t argue with the fans who tried to insult him — he would just run faster around the bases. 

Forty-two now hangs in every Major League ballpark in America as a symbol of equality and the freedom to dream.