DATE: 1996 ORIGINAL or DUPLICATE: Original Film SUBJECT: APPROXIMATE SIZE: 35mm in standard 2"x2" slide mount MARKS / STAMPING: Note that this is a photo OF a cereal box, but no box or cereal is included. It's just film. NUMBER OF SLIDES: 1 COMMENTS / CONDITION: This is an original color transparency (film) which, like original negatives, can be used to produce high-quality prints (and unlike negatives, can be viewed and enjoyed with the naked eye, without having to use software to invert the image). See scan for further details. This is one of a large accumulation of vintage sports photographs, slides and negatives that we will be listing over the coming months. Wear on these, if any, is mostly confined to minor corner and edge wear, but see scans for further details including condition. We do not deal in stock images or modern reprints, and all scans shown are of the actual vintage photograph, slide or negative being sold. If you have any questions about a particular piece, please ask before the auction ends. BIO: Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in 1919 in Cairo, GA and died in 1972 in Stamford, CT. He went to college at the University of California, Los Angeles. He played major league baseball from 1947 to 1956 as 2nd and 3rd baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, appeared in the 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956 World Series, was selected 6 times as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Jackie Robinson is famous for breaking baseball's color line and starting the integration of Organized Baseball. Robinson was a multi-sport star and the only person in the history of UCLA athletics to letter in four different sports. In addition to playing baseball, he was a leading running back in football, a top scorer in basketball, and an excellent sprinter and long-jumper. Robinson's older brother, Mack, finished second to Jesse Owens in the 200m in the 1936 Olympics, and it's likely that Jackie would have been an Olympian except for the cancellation of the 1940 games. After leaving UCLA a few credits short of graduation, Robinson joined the US Army to serve in the Second World War. While training at Fort Hood, TX, Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus when a white woman demanded that he do so. Even though Army regulations specifically backed him, Robinson was court-martialed for insubordination. He was acquitted, but was still unfairly branded as a racial agitator. The Army found a pretext to give him an honorable discharge soon afterward. Following his discharge, Robinson signed with the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs for the 1945 season. He was a successful shortstop for the Monarchs and was named to the East-West All-Star game. While playing for the Monarchs, he was scouted by Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who intended to sign top African American players to break the color line. Rickey picked Robinson as the best candidate, and signed him to great publicity after the 1945 season. Rather than send Robinson straight to the majors, Rickey decided to have him spend one year in the minors. Rickey's exact reasoning for doing so is unclear, but it was probably with the idea that Robinson could win support of his right to play in the majors by succeeding in the minors. If so, his hopes were dashed. While Robinson did his part, winning the 1946 International League MVP playing for the Montreal Royals, the hoped-for support did not materialize. Rickey went ahead anyway, naming Robinson the Dodgers' starting first baseman for the 1947 season. Despite threats of strike by teammates and opponents alike, Robinson proved himself, batting .297, leading the league with 29 stolen bases, and winning the newly created BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award. He also was was voted Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News (which had opposed integration). The BBWAA Award was officially named for Jackie Robinson in 1997. In 1949, he won the NL batting title and was named the NL MVP. Following the 1956 season, the Dodgers attempted to trade Robinson to the New York Giants, but Robinson refused to report to his new team and retired instead. Following his playing career, Robinson served as Vice President of Chock Full O'Nuts, a coffee chain that made a point of hiring African Americans, and on the board of directors of the NAACP. He remained active in civil rights and politics until late in his life. He was elected to the International League Hall of Fame in 1960, and the MLB Hall of Fame in 1962 in his first year of eligibility. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously in 2003, only the second baseball player to receive the award. His number 42 has been retired across baseball in tribute to his career accomplishments. SKU: LCF03668
Item: LCF03668
|