Jackie Robinson's debut: Dodgers, and baseball, win on long-awaited day

The author recreates what it would have been like to see Jackie Robinson's major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

Acknowledging Jackie Robinson Day has become an annual part of our coverage at SI.com, but one thing we haven't devoted much time to is what happened in his actual major league debut. To that end, we asked Brooklynite Jay Jaffe to relive that day as though he had been in the Ebbets Field press box on April 15, 1947.

BROOKLYN—Jack Roosevelt Robinson made history on Tuesday when he wore the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers for Opening Day at Ebbets Field, for never before had a black player taken the field in a regular season major league game. While Robinson, number 42 on the scorecard, officially went hitless in three at-bats as Dem Bums downed the Boston Braves, 5-3, he played a key part in a three-run rally that helped the Brooklyns come from behind in the seventh inning.

Until the bottom of that frame, the 28-year-old Robinson had played a quiet game despite the historic implications of being the first of his kind to see the light of the major leagues. Playing first base—where he handled all 11 of his chances cleanly despite it not being his natural position—and batting second, he was kept at bay by Johnny Sain, the Braves’ ace. Robinson grounded out to third base in the first inning, flew out to end the third and hit into a double play to end the fifth, quashing a two-on, one-out situation that the Dodgers had brewing. At first, it looked like the last of those might result in a hit, but Dick Culler, the Boston shortstop, made an outstanding play to start a 6-4-3 twin killing.

Undaunted, Robinson came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with the Dodgers trailing 3-2. Following a walk by pesky Eddie Stanky, who took the free pass a league-leading 137 times last year, Robinson chose not to risk grounding into a double play and instead bunted down the first base line. Amid a scrum involving Sain and catcher Phil Masi, Braves first baseman Earl Torgeson plucked the ball off the ground, but his rushed throw bounced off Robinson and sailed into foul territory in rightfield. Robinson sped to second base while Stanky took third. Pete Reiser followed by hooking a double into the rightfield corner, barely fair, that scored them both, giving the Dodgers the lead and sending last year’s 20-game winner to the showers. Two batters later, Reiser, who had taken third on an Arky Vaughan grounder, scored on Gene Hermanski's fly ball off reliever Mort Cooper for a 5-3 lead that held up, allowing the 26,623 Brooklynites of all colors, shapes and sizes in attendance home happy. Interestingly, it was some five thousand fewer fans than saw the Bums’ home opener against the Giants last year.

Elston Howard became the Yankees' Jackie Robinson 60 years ago

The less-than-full take at the gate aside, it was an excellent start to what may well be a tumultuous season for Brooklyn, which won 96 games last year under skipper Leo Durocher but lost a best-of-three tiebreaker to the Cardinals, who went on to beat the Red Sox in a thrilling seven-game World Series. The Dodgers are still searching for a follow-up to their 1941 pennant, and they're reeling from Durocher's recent one-year suspension by commissioner Happy Chandler for associating with known gamblers, handed down last week. Coach Clyde Sukeforth is in charge of the club for now, but he has told team president and general manager Branch Rickey that it's only a temporary solution. Scuttlebutt in the press box is that Rickey sent a telegram to former Phillies manager Burt Shotton, but it's not yet clear that the 62-year-old, who hasn't managed in the bigs since 1934, would even be a good fit.

For the opener, Sukeforth tabbed Joe Hatten, one of last year's rookie surprises and the loser of that second tiebreaker game in St. Louis, to take the ball. Hatten had to work out of early trouble, showing enough moxie to strand five Braves over the first four innings. The Dodgers scored first against Sain, meanwhile, with Reiser scratching out a run in the fourth inning with only the faintest of help. Pistol Pete walked, advanced to second on Dixie Walker's groundout, took third on Hermanski's single—which would have scored him had second baseman Connie Ryan not knocked it down with a fine play—and then scored when Hermanski went in hard on a potential double-play grounder, holding Boston to a force play. The Braves evened the score in the very next half-inning, with Ryan's single and a pair of sacrifices setting the table for Johnny Hopp to drove home the equalizer with a single off Hatten.

Spider Jorgensen, Pee Wee Reese and Eddie Stanky joined Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn's starting infield / AP

Ryan had a big day, with three hits. He drove in Boston's next two runs during a sloppy sixth inning that saw Hatten hit Danny Litwhiler, who took second when catcher Bruce Edwards threw away Torgeson's bunt. After Masi sacrificed, Ryan brought home both runners with another single for a 3-1 advantage. Brooklyn cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth. Reiser and Walker singled and Edwards was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for new third baseman Spider Jogenson. He grounded out, but Reiser scored, though the Dodgers' hopes for more were dashed when Sain struck out pinch-hitter Ed Stevens with the bases loaded.

Then the big seventh inning rally put the home team on top, and relief pitchers Hal Gregg and Hugh Casey shut down the Braves, who put two men on base on both the eighth and the ninth to no avail. Casey struck out Torgeson, a 23-year-old rookie from far-off Washington state who was making his major league debut, to end the game. Poor Torgy must have felt like walking all the way back home after that, and we haven’t even talked about how Walker’s hit bounced off first based and rolled through his wickets.

Reminders of Jackie Robinson's resonance in Brooklyn and beyond

The other rookie fared better in kicking off Rickey's bold experiment, and it was a bit of serendipity that Sukeforth was the man who wrote Robinson into the lineup card. Sukeforth, in fact, was the one tasked by the Mahatma a couple years back with scouring the Negro Leagues in search of a ballplayer with enough talent and fortitude to challenge a color line that's unofficially been in place for more than half a century. Rickey didn't want Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige or Willie Wells, names far more famous among those in the know about such things. He wanted Robinson, who went to college at UCLA and played alongside many whites while becoming the first athlete at the school to letter in four sports (baseball, football, basketball and track; his brother Mack ran with Jessie Owens in Berlin, winning silver in the 200 meter race). After serving in World War II, Robinson was playing shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs, and that's where he was when Sukeforth found him him in a game in Chicago two years ago. Sukeforth brought Robinson to Dodgers headquarters on Montague Street under the guise of being part of the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers. That was August 28, 1945, and it was there that Rickey let Robinson in on his plan, not to play for another rival league but for the Dodgers' top farm team in Montreal.

Robinson spent the 1946 season with the Royals and became a gate attraction wherever he went, especially at home, where attendance more than quadrupled from the year before, to north of half a million. Despite the hostility he experienced from the less evolved fans when he went on the road, Robinson hit .349, good enough to win the International League batting title. He also scored a league-high 113 runs, stole 40 bases and made a clean conversion from shortstop to second base, making just 10 errors.

That performance helped Montreal win the IL flag by 18 1/2 games, and it made a convert out of Clay Hopper, Robinson's Mississippi-born manager, who had tried to avoid the task handed down to him by Mr. Rickey. After beating the Syracuse Chiefs 4-games-to-1 in a best-of-seven championship, Clay told Robinson, “You’re a great ballplayer and fine gentleman. It’s been wonderful having you on the team.” The Royals then beat the American Association's Louisville Colonels in the Little World Series, 3-games-to-2, with the fans in Montreal giving Jackie a joyous reception, in marked contrast to the mean-spirited element he encountered in Louisville.

Jackie Robinson was a legend as a player, as well as a pioneer

Much intrigue had followed this spring when the Dodgers and Royals set up their spring training camp in Havana, Cuba, hoping to avoid Jim Crow as well as the prying eyes of most reporters. Robinson wasn't alone among the black players signed by the Dodgers, as catcher Roy Campanella and pitchers Don Newcombe and Roy Partlow went to Havana as well (a hint that there may soon be more to follow Robinson?) but there was some grousing about the point of avoiding the segregated southern United States when those four players were housed at the run-down Hotel Los Angeles, which didn’t even have a restaurant, while their white Royals teammates enjoyed nicer accommodations at the Havana Military Academy. The Dodgers themselves stayed at the grand Hotel Nacional.

While the Dodgers were in Cuba, there were rumors of a rebellion among the ranks, as several of the team’s Southern players such as Walker and Kirby Higbe were said to have signed a petition telling Mr. Rickey they would not play with Robinson. Durocher, always a man to put winning before anything else, told the boys in no uncertain terms what they could do with that petition, but on April 9, as the Dodgers and Royals were playing exhibition series at Ebbets, Chandler handed the loquacious Leo his ban.

A day later, the Dodgers officially purchased the contract of Robinson with the intention of going forward with their attempt to integrate major league baseball, something that would have been unthinkable under the previous commissioner, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis. Despite hailing from Kentucky, Chandler okayed the contract, withstanding the opposition of a majority of National League owners. That might make it tough for the old senator to keep his job down the road, but he's already made his mark on the game.

Sons of Jackie Robinson: Remembering the players who broke the color line for the other 15 teams of that era

(Perhaps it bodes well that the Dodgers’ unofficial captain, Pee Wee Reese, is also from Kentucky, yet doesn’t seem to have a prejudiced bone in his body. Asked by a reporter recently if he worried about losing his job at shortstop, he said, “If he can take my job, he's entitled to it.”)

Now Robinson is in the history books as well, and while he is likely to face more angry crowds—and old Jim Crow—in other cities, the Brooklyn fans have let him know he’s welcome in their ballpark. If this experiment continues to go well, it will be a positive not just for the Dodgers, who have a shot at a pennant with Reiser healthy enough to pair with Walker, but for Robinson and more ballplayers like him. Who knows how many great ones are still out there waiting to get their chance?

Classic Photos of Jackie Robinson

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson, as a young boy, poses while sitting on a chair, circa 1925.

Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson shoots the ball while practicing for the UCLA basketball team in 1939. In two years at UCLA, Robinson became a four-letter athlete in track and field, football, basketball and baseball—the first and only in the school’s history.

AP

Jackie Robinson served in the "Black Panthers" 761st Tank Battalion during World War II but never saw combat. He was nearly court-martialed for refusing to sit in the back of a bus.

Sporting News via Getty Images

Jackie Robinson flashes a smile while playing shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues.

AP

Jackie Robinson signs with the Montreal Royals, alongside Royals president Hector Racine, Branch Rickey Jr. and Royals vice president Romeo Gauvreau, in 1945.

Archive Photos/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson marries Rachel Isum at the Independent Church in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 1946.

AP

Montreal outfielder George Shuba congratulates teammate Jackie Robinson as he crosses the plate after hitting a home run in the third inning against the Jersey City Giants at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, N.J., during his professional debut on April 18, 1946.

AP

Jackie Robinson signs his contract to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 10, 1947.

AP

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson's first day in the majors, he lined up with teammates (from left) John Jorgensen, Pee Wee Reese and Ed Stanky.

AP

Dodgers manager Leo Durocher shakes hands with Jackie Robinson prior to an exhibition game with the Montreal Royals in Havana, Cuba, on March 31, 1947. Following Robinson's promotion to the Dodgers, Durocher addressed the racial tension in the team's clubhouse by informing his players, "I don't care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a ****** zebra. I'm the manager of this team and I say he plays."

AP

Jackie Robinson poses with Phillies manager Ben Chapman before a game on May 9 ,1947. Weeks earlier, Chapman had shouted racist obscenities at Robinson from the Phillies dugout. Branch Rickey later recalled that Chapman "did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers."

TSN/Icon SMI

The architect of the Brooklyn Dodgers dynasty, Branch Rickey, has Jackie Robinson sign another contract before the 1948 season.

AP

Jackie Robinson steals home against Braves pitcher Bill Voiselle and catcher Bill Salkeld on Aug. 22, 1948 at Ebbets Field.

Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson is helped by the Dodgers trainer and third base coach after being struck in the head by a pitch during a game in the 1949 season in Brooklyn.

AP

Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson pose together during the 16th annual All-Star Game, which took place at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 12, 1949. It was the first All-Star Game to feature black players.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson steps up to bat during a game against the Pirates at a packed Ebbets Field on Aug. 28, 1949.

Sports Studio Photos/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson poses with his 1949 NL MVP award. Robison batted .342 with 16 home runs, 124 RBI and 37 stolen bases that season.

Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson greets members of the UCLA basketball team after they defeated City College of New York on Dec. 28, 1949 in New York City. A UCLA alum, Robinson became the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track.

George Dorrill/Sports Studio Photos/Getty Images

Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson pose together circa 1950. Campanella joined the Dodgers in 1948, and Newcombe the following year.

Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Stan Musial, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Ralph Kiner pose before the start of the All-Star Game at Briggs Stadium in Detroit on July 10, 1951. The National League won 8-3.

Charles Payne/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

The Dodgers, including (from left) Wayne Terwilliger, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Preacher Roe, Chuck Dressen and Carl Erskine, celebrate in the clubhouse after defeating the Phillies in 14 innings to tie the Giants for first place in the National League on Sept 30, 1951.

AP

Jackie Robinson poses for a portrait in 1952. Robinson had a career-high .440 OBP that season.

Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese welcome Jackie Robinson at home plate after his first inning two-run homer against the Pirates at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1954.

Mark Kauffman for Sports Illustrated

Jackie Robinson steals home plate against Yogi Berra during Game 1 of the 1955 World Series on Sept. 28, 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers lost the game 6-5, but went on to beat the New York Yankees 4-3 in the series.

AP

Jackie Robinson with wife, Rachel, and their son David at their home in Stamford, Conn., on Dec. 13, 1956, the day Robinson was traded from the Dodgers to the rival New York Giants. Robinson refused to report to the Giants and retired instead.

Barney Stein/Sports Studio Photos/Getty Images

Jackie Robinson waves goodbye as he leaves Ebbets Field for the last time in January 1957. Robins retired at the age of 37, ending his major league career after 10 seasons.

AP

Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame on July 23, 1962. He was inducted in his first year of eligibility.

AP

Jackie Robinson hits a punching bag held by Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, in a New York gym in March 1963. Less than a year later, Clay would win the world heavyweight title with a victory over Sonny Liston.

AP

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robison discuss race relations in Birmingham, Ala., on May 14, 1963. The men shared a belief in pacifism in the face of intolerance.

AP

Clude Sukeforth, the scout who played a major role in bringing Jackie Robinson to the major leagues, speaks with Robinson during a luncheon honoring Robinson in New York on July 19, 1972.

AP

Jackie Robinson makes his final public appearance, as he throws out the ceremonial first pitch of Game 2 of the World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds, alongside Commissioner Bowie Kuhn on Oct. 15, 1972. Robinson would die of a heart attack nine days later at just 53 years old.

Jim McKnight/AP

New Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett and his son, Kirby, Jr., look at the Jackie Robinson exhibit as they tour the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on May 3, 2001.