42

In 1945, America's greatest generation came back from war.

The flags of freedom fly over Europe.

Nazi Germany had been defeated...

...and three months later, Imperial Japan surrendered as well.

And there's jubilation around this earth.

Men returned home. Among them, some of baseball's most beloved names.

Musial. DiMaggio. Williams.

Life in the United States could return to normal.

- What's the guy's name? - What's on second?

- Who's on second? - Who's on first?

- I don't know. - Third base.

And baseball was proof positive that democracy was real.

A baseball box score, after all, is a democratic thing.

It doesn't say how big you are or what religion you follow.

It does not know how you voted or the color of your skin.

It simply states what kind of ballplayer you were on any particular day.

And he did it. It's a home run.

They knew he'd do it.

African Americans had served their country gallantly.

They returned home from fighting to free the world from tyranny...

...only to find racism, segregation and Jim Crow law still waiting at home.

Segregation was the law...

...and no group was more scrupulous in its observance of custom...

...than organized baseball.

There was a long road ahead.

If African Americans dreamed of playing baseball...

...it was not for the Yankees...

...but for teams like the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues...

...where the barnstorming style of play stood in contrast to the Majors.

In 1946, there were 16 Major League baseball teams...

...with a total of 400 players on their rosters.

Every one of the 400 players were white.

But when opening day came in 1947, that number dropped to 399...

...and one man stood apart.

Gentlemen, I have a plan.

Plan's good, Mr. Rickey. You always have one.

My wife says I'm too old. Heh, heh.

That my health's not up to it.

My son says, uh, everybody in...

Everybody in basebalI is gonna be against me. Heh.

But I'm gonna do it.

Do what, Mr. Rickey?

I'm gonna bring a Negro ballplayer...

...to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

With all due respect, sir, have you lost your mind?

Think- Think about-

Think about the abuse...

...that you are gonna take from the newspapers...

...let alone how this is gonna play out in Flatbush!

Please, Mr. Rickey.

Sit down, Harold.

No law against it, Clyde.

No.

No, but there's a code.

You break a law and get away with it, some people think you're smart.

You break an unwritten law...

...you'll be an outcast.

Mm-hm.

So be it.

New York's full of Negro basebalI fans.

Dollars aren't black and white, they're green.

Every dollar's green.

I don't know who he is...

...or where he is...

...but he's coming.

Hey, runner!

Where'd you learn to move like that, at a dime-a-dance night?

Stand still!

There you are!

Ball!

Safe!

Catcher!

When you gonna start throwing for real?

You talking to me?

You got a rag arm, catcher.

Steal home. You'Il find out what kind of arm I got.

Okay.

I'm coming.

Where's your shortstop from?

California.

Sure got a mouth on him.

Safe!

Discussions concerning Japan's offer of surrender.

Washington, London, Moscow, and Chungking...

...now framing their decision.

When this decision will be communicated to Tokyo via the government's...

- Fill her up? - Yes, sir.

You boys heading out? Uh, Chicago.

Chicago, huh? Heh.

- You boys get around. - Yeah, we sure do.

- Hey. Hey, you, where you going? To the toilet.

HelI, come on, boy. You know you can't go in there.

Them Cokes are a nickel.

Take that hose out of the tank.

- Robinson. - What?

I said take it out.

We'll get our 99 gallons of gas someplace else.

All right, then. Go on.

Go on! Use it.

Roy Campanella.

HelI of a player. He's too sweet. They'd eat him alive.

All right.

Oh, sorry. Oh, wait. Sorry.

- Satchel Paige, then. He's too old.

We need a player with a future, not a past.

Here.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

Four-sport college man, out of UCLA. That means he's played with white boys.

Playing for the Kansas City Monarchs.

Twenty-six years old. He's batting. 350. Three-fifty.

Methodist.

Commissioned Army officer.

He was court-martialed.

He's a troublemaker.

Well, he argues with umpires.

A quick temper is his reputation.

Well, what was he court-martialed for?

Wouldn't sit in the back of a military bus. Fort Hood, Texas.

Driver asked him to, uh, move back.

MPs had to take him off.

There, you see?

I see he resents segregation.

If he were white, we'd call that spirit.

Robinson's a Methodist.

I'm a Methodist. God's a Methodist.

We can't go wrong. Find him.

Bring him here.

How are you, fellas? I'm looking for your, uh, shortstop.

You Jackie Robinson?

Who are you?

Mr. Rickey.

What's this about?

This is about baseball, Jackie.

I see you starting in spring with our affiliate in Montreal.

If you make it there...

...we'Il try you down here...

...with the Dodgers.

With the white Brooklyn Dodgers.

Hmm.

I'll pay you $600 a month.

And a $3500 bonus when you sign the contract.

That agreeable?

- Yes, that's fine but- - There's one condition.

I know you can hit behind the runner. That you can read a pitch.

One question is...

...can you controI your temper?

My temper?

Yes, your temper! What are you, deaf?

A black man in white baseball, heh, can you imagine the reaction?

The vitriol?

Dodgers check into a hotel, a, uh, a decent, good hoteI.

You're worn out from the road.

Some clerk won't give you the pen to sign in with.

"We got no room for you, boy. Not even down in the coal bin where you belong. "

Team stops at a restaurant. Waiter won't take your order.

"Didn't you see the sign on the door? No niggers allowed. "

What are you gonna do then? Fight him? Ruin all my plans?

Answer me, you black son of a bitch!

You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back?

No.

No.

I want a player who's got the guts not to fight back.

People aren't gonna like this.

They're gonna do anything to get you to react.

Echo a curse with a curse and, uh, they'll hear only yours.

Follow a blow with a blow and they'll say, "The Negro lost his temper. "

That "The Negro does not belong. "

Your enemy will be out in force...

...and you cannot meet him on his own low ground.

We win with hitting, running, fielding. Only that.

We win if the world is convinced of two things:

That you are a fine gentleman and a great baseball player.

Like our Savior...

...you gotta have the guts...

...to turn the other cheek.

Can you do it?

You give me a uniform...

...you give me a, heh, number on my back...

...and I'll give you the guts.

Hello?

Rae...

Jack.

I'm in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn? For what?

Uh...

I don't want to say on the phone.

In fact, I'm not supposed to tell anyone.

What's going on? Aren't you supposed to be playing in Chicago?

We've been tested, you and me.

We've done everything the right way. We have.

Me trying to make money, you finishing school.

We don't owe the world a thing.

Only each other.

Jack, what are you talking about? What is going on? What happened?

Will you marry me, Rae?

Absolutely.

Yes. Yes.

When?

Um...

How about right now?