DaytonDailyNews.com

A member of each major league team will wear the number "42" Sunday in honor of the late Jackie Robinson.

Robinson was not only a fine player for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he is credited with breaking the barrier for black players to enter the previously all-white majors.

Up to that time, black players played in Negro leagues.

Not too many are around these days who might remember the hardships endured by Robinson when he first broke in with the Dodgers but, as you can imagine, they were the most difficult of circumstances.

When Robinson, a multi-sports star at UCLA, wasn't the best ballplayer in the Negro Leagues. He was signed by Branch Rickey in 1946. Robinson was picked because he had the right attitude and right determination.

He was told to turn the other cheek when he was being insulted or being submitted to harsh treatment on the field.

Then he was shipped to Montreal, a Class AAA farm club, where his manager didn't particularly want to manage a black.

But when the season ended and the Royals had won, the same manager congratulated Robinson for his deeds off the field and his superior playing. The Canadian fans had accepted him.

Then he was transferred to the majors the following year and the howl really started.

There were teammates on the Dodgers who asked to be traded. There were notes threatening his life. There were players on other teams vowing to make life miserable. In fact, the St. Louis Cardinals threatened to go on strike if he was in Dodger uniform when they played the boys from Brooklyn.

Every team in the National League had a southerner who was going to refuse to play.

Robinson found life on the playing field even tough. The opposition was not going to make it easy for him while playing. However, the 1947 Dodgers made it to the World Series.

Robinson endured all the off-field and on-field hazards and never said a word that first year. He was exactly what Rickey wanted out of his first black, who led the National League in hitting the next year and eventually led the way for a whole string of black players in both leagues.

What Robinson did is hard to fathom these days with black players on every team roster. It's too bad that many of the black players today don't know who Robinson was or, if they do, do not pay him proper homage.

One of Robinson's final appearances came at Riverfront Stadium after he had retired. He threw out the first ball during the 1972 World Series.

It was then that he made the statement calling for a black manager. Too bad he didn't get to see what is happening today in that regard. He died two weeks later.