April 15, 1947, marked the most important opening day in baseball
history. When Jackie Robinson stepped onto the diamond that
afternoon at Ebbets Field, he became the first black man to break
into major-league baseball in the twentieth century. World War II
had just ended. Democracy had triumphed. Now Americans were
beginning to press for justice on the home front -- and Robinson
had a chance to lead the way.
He was an unlikely hero. He had little experience in organized
baseball. His swing was far from graceful. And he was assigned to
play first base, a position he had never tried before that season.
But the biggest concern was his temper. Robinson was an angry man
who played an aggressive style of ball. In order to succeed he
would have to control himself in the face of what promised to be a
brutal assault by opponents of integration.
In "Opening Day," Jonathan Eig tells the true story behind the
national pastime's most sacred myth. Along the way he offers new
insights into events of sixty years ago and punctures some familiar
legends. Was it true that the St. Louis Cardinals plotted to
boycott their first home game against the Brooklyn Dodgers? Was Pee
Wee Reese really Robinson's closest ally on the team? Was Dixie
Walker his greatest foe? How did Robinson handle the extraordinary
stress of being the only black man in baseball and still manage to
perform so well on the field? "Opening Day" is also the story of a
team of underdogs that came together against tremendous odds to
capture the pennant. Facing the powerful New York Yankees, Robinson
and the Dodgers battled to the seventh game in one of the most
thrilling World Series competitions of all time.
Drawing on interviews with surviving players, sportswriters, and
eyewitnesses, as well as newly discovered material from archives
around the country, Jonathan Eig presents a fresh portrait of a
ferocious competitor who embodied integration's promise and helped
launch the modern civil-rights era. Full of new details and
thrilling action, "Opening Day" brings to life baseball's ultimate
story.
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