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How did Jackie Robinson perform during his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947?

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Negro league The 1935 roster of the Negro league team the Pittsburgh Crawfords, including Cool Papa Bell (seventh from right), Josh Gibson (fourth from right), and Satchel Paige (second from right).

In 1947, Jackie Robinson’s first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was an immediate success on the field. He led the National League in stolen bases and was awarded the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year award.1

His performance occurred amidst significant adversity. As the first Black player to break the modern color barrier in the major leagues, Robinson endured intense racial abuse, including death threats, bottles thrown at him by fans, and deliberate physical aggression from opposing players. Some of his own teammates initially protested his presence, and he frequently faced discriminatory treatment, such as being barred from the same hotels and restaurants as his teammates due to Jim Crow laws. Despite these immense pressures, Robinson maintained his composure, later reflecting that he understood his role as an experiment in a cause much larger than himself.21