Breakthrough Helped Change America

The national celebration of Jackie Robinson Day will be observed this afternoon at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, marking the 60th anniversary of his breaking baseball's color line.

The national celebration of Jackie Robinson Day will be observed this afternoon at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, marking the 60th anniversary of his breaking baseball's color line. Robinson's widow, Rachel, their daughter Sharon, their son David, several of his Brooklyn Dodger teammates and baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will be among those participating in the pre-game ceremony. The pre-game activities will begin with a video tribute to Mr. Robinson, who grew up in Pasadena, California and attended Muir High School, Pasadena City College and UCLA.

Actors Courtney B. Vance, Marlon Wayans and Angela Bassett will be among celebrities participating in an "Ode to Jackie'' reading. The Brookinaires Gospel Choir from Los Angeles' First AME Church will perform "Oh Happy Day,'' one of Robinson's favorite songs. The winners of the Breaking Barriers essay contest for children in fourth through sixth grades will also be honored. Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson will sing the national anthem. Hall of Fame members Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, who both played against Robinson, will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.

"He's the reason I'm here,'' Juan Pierre, a center fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, said of the late Mr. Robinson. "He's the reason all the African American players are where we're at. If he had gotten here and messed up everything, you never know how the game would have been. What he had to endure on the field -- with guys stepping on him, throwing at him -- and him not saying anything, you have to have total respect for that.''

Mr. Selig has called Robinson's major league debut on April 15, 1947 as "baseball's proudest moment.'' "On that landmark day, Jackie ended segregation in baseball and ushered in an era in which baseball became the true national pastime,'' he said.

Born Jan. 31, 1919 in Cairo, Ga., Mr. Robinson, his four siblings and mother moved to Pasadena in 1920 after his father deserted the family. Mr. Robinson lettered in baseball, basketball, football and track and field at UCLA. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he played with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1945.

Branch Rickey, the president and co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, signed Mr. Robinson on Oct. 23, 1945, assigning him to the team's International League affiliate in Montreal for the 1946 season. Mr. Robinson received the Rookie of the Year Award, which now bears his name, in 1947 and the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949. He helped lead the Dodgers (who would eventually move to Los Angeles) to six National League championships during his 10 seasons with the team, and, in 1955, their only World Series championship in Brooklyn. Mr. Robinson retired from baseball after the 1956 season, declining the join the rival New York Giants after a trade.

In 1957, he was named vice president of Chock Full O' Nuts and later co-founded the Freedom National Bank of Harlem. He was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1962, part of a long series of honors he received. Mr. Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress can bestow, in 2003. He died of a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 53, far from satisfied at the way black Americans were advancing in baseball.