Well, let me tell ya ’bout this fella, Jerry Robinson. Now, some folks might get him mixed up with Jackie Robinson, the baseball fella. But Jerry, he was Jackie’s daddy. Yeah, that’s right, the father of the man who went and did big things in baseball, breakin’ all them color lines and such.
Jackie Robinson’s Daddy: A Simple Man
See, Jerry, he was a sharecropper down in Georgia. Wasn’t much money in it, but it was honest work, ya know? He and his wife, Mallie, they had themselves a bunch of kids, and Jackie, well, he was the youngest. Jerry, he worked hard, tryin’ to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Life wasn’t easy, no sir. It was tough scrabble, like most folks back then.
Now, I ain’t sayin’ Jerry was some fancy pants fella. He was just a regular man, workin’ the land, tryin’ to make a life for his family. He probably didn’t have much learnin’, but he had grit, ya know? That kinda grit you need to survive when things get tough. And I reckon he passed that on to Jackie, that’s for sure. You don’t go breakin’ baseball records and standin’ up to all that hate without some grit in ya belly.
- Jerry was a sharecropper
- He worked hard for his family
- He wasn’t educated but he was determined
Raising a Baseball Legend
Jerry up and left the family when Jackie was just a little tyke, ’bout six months old, I heard. Left Mallie to raise them kids all by herself, which was a heavy burden, Lord knows. Folks say he went off lookin’ for work, tryin’ to make a better life, but things just didn’t work out the way he planned. Some say he came back later, some say he didn’t. Stories get twisted and turned over time, ya know? But one thing’s for sure, Mallie, she did a bang-up job raisin’ them kids on her own. She moved the family to California, give ‘em a better chance.
It ain’t clear how much Jerry was involved in Jackie’s life after that. But you gotta figure, even if he wasn’t around much, he still had some kinda impact on Jackie. Maybe it was the leavin’ that made Jackie tough, made him want to prove somethin’. Maybe it was somethin’ Jerry said or did when Jackie was little, somethin’ that stuck with him. Who knows? Life’s funny that way.
Jackie Robinson: A Trailblazer
Now, Jackie, he went on to become somethin’ special. He played all sorts of sports in college, then he joined the army, and finally, he started playin’ baseball. But this wasn’t just any baseball, mind you. This was back when black folks weren’t allowed to play with white folks. There was this thing they called the “color bar,” keepin’ everything separate. But Jackie, he broke through that color bar, he did.
On April 15, 1947, Jackie started playin’ for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first black fella to play in the major leagues in a long, long time. Folks gave him a hard time, called him names, threatened him even. But Jackie, he held his head high and he played his heart out. He showed ’em all what he was made of. And he didn’t do it alone, had the help of good teammates and good people around him.
Jerry’s Legacy
Jackie, he played for ten years, won all sorts of awards, and even helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1955. He retired in 1957, a hero to lots of folks. And you gotta wonder, what did Jerry think about all that? Did he ever see Jackie play? Did he know what a big deal his son had become? I don’t have the answers to those questions, but it makes you think, don’t it?
Jackie Robinson’s Birthday and Early Life
Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He was the youngest of five children and grew up poor, raised by his single mother. His older brother, Matthew, encouraged him to pursue sports and athletics. That shows ya, even without a daddy around, a young’un can still find their way with the help of family and a good heart.
Breaking Barriers and Friendship
It wasn’t easy for Jackie, not by a long shot. He faced a lot of prejudice and hate, just ’cause of the color of his skin. But he also found friends along the way, folks who stood by him and supported him. One fella, Pee Wee Reese, a white teammate from the South, even stood up for Jackie publicly, showin’ the world that friendship could overcome prejudice. That took guts, let me tell ya.
A Hero’s Journey
So, Jerry Robinson, he might not have been a famous man, he might not have been a rich man, but he was a father. And even though he wasn’t always there, he was part of Jackie’s story. And Jackie’s story, well, it’s a story about courage and perseverance, about breakin’ down barriers and makin’ the world a better place. And maybe, just maybe, some of that grit, that determination, started with a sharecropper from Georgia named Jerry Robinson. It’s the way of the world, sometimes the folks you barely know have a big impact on your life, even if you don’t know it at the time.
Jackie Robinson’s Retirement
Jackie retired a hero. He showed the world that a black man could be a star athlete and a role model. He helped change the way people thought about race and sports. And I reckon Jerry, wherever he was, would have been proud of his son, the son of a sharecropper who became a legend.
