See his autobiography, Faster (1972).
Robinson left college to support his mother, but in 1941 played professional football with the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast League. He entered the army in World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant in 1945. In Oct., 1945, Branch Rickey, then president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, signed Robinson to play for the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn farm club in the International League. Despite several incidents in spring training in the South and many inconveniences during the season, Robinson—the first African-American ballplayer in that league—excelled as a second baseman and won the league batting crown.
In 1947 precedent was shattered when Robinson was brought up to the Brooklyn club. African Americans had not played in big-league competition in the 20th cent., but resistance dwindled as Robinson excelled. In 1949 he won the National League batting crown, hitting .342, and was named the NL's most valuable player. Robinson played his entire career (1947-56) with Brooklyn, where he set fielding and batting records and gained a reputation for base stealing. Other African Americans began playing in the major leagues soon after his debut. In 1962 Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
See his autobiography (1972); J. Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment (1983) and Extra Bases (2002); A. Rampersad, Jackie Robinson (1997); S. Simon, Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball (2002).
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Jackie Robinson, 1946.
Learn more about Robinson, Jackie with a free trial on Britannica.com.
(born March 3, 1962, East St. Louis, Ill., U.S.) U.S. athlete. She won four consecutive National Junior Heptathlon championships and starred in basketball and track and field at UCLA. In 1986 she became the first heptathlon competitor ever to score 7,000 points. She broke that barrier six times, four times establishing a new world record. She won heptathlon gold medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, becoming the first heptathlete ever to achieve consecutive Olympic wins. Her best events were the long jump (world record, 1987; Olympic gold medal, 1988), 100-m hurdles, 200-m run, and high jump. Many consider her to be the finest female athlete in history.
Learn more about Joyner-Kersee, Jackie with a free trial on Britannica.com.
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Jackie Robinson, 1946.
Learn more about Robinson, Jackie with a free trial on Britannica.com.
(born March 3, 1962, East St. Louis, Ill., U.S.) U.S. athlete. She won four consecutive National Junior Heptathlon championships and starred in basketball and track and field at UCLA. In 1986 she became the first heptathlon competitor ever to score 7,000 points. She broke that barrier six times, four times establishing a new world record. She won heptathlon gold medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, becoming the first heptathlete ever to achieve consecutive Olympic wins. Her best events were the long jump (world record, 1987; Olympic gold medal, 1988), 100-m hurdles, 200-m run, and high jump. Many consider her to be the finest female athlete in history.
Learn more about Joyner-Kersee, Jackie with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Jackie-O Motherfucker's music draws from a variety of subgenres including drone, free jazz, and space-rock, and is heavily improvisational in its nature. Because they are a collective, rather than a consistent band or group, the sound of their music can change from performance to performance. The group operates its own label of CD-R live recordings, the U-Sound Archive, which features concert recordings from Jackie-O Motherfucker as well as like-minded subterranean artists such as Double Leopards, Sunroof!, Decaer Pinga, and Vibracathedral Orchestra.
The group's first three albums were limited-run vinyl-only releases on now-defunct Portland label Imp Records. Since then, the group has had recordings released by many different labels from around the world before settling down with the London based label Fire Records.
The group has been on several international tours, including several performances at All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals. Several albums released by the group are from live shows, which stand apart from their other releases due to the improvisational nature.