The name Jackie Robinson inspires countless emotions amongst baseball fans of all ages. Tales of his courage in dealing with racism as he became the first player to play Major League baseball and his debut opened doors (albeit far too slowly) for African-American players to play the game we have all grown up loving.
It is easy to forget that other players had to continue to break down barriers one by one, whether that was Larry Doby who was the American League’s first African-American player to Johnny Wright who played in the minor leagues for the same team at the same time as Robinson but failed to crack the major league roster.