Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947, ending racial segregation and contributing significantly to the Civil Rights Movement. He went on to have an amazing baseball career. Over ten seasons, he played in six World Series, was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games, was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949. In 1962, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And in 1997, Major League Baseball "universally" retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams, making him the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored.

In this narrative biography, you'll discover what he was like as a kid, and how his experiences made him into the athlete and activist he later became!

This book is part of a book series called History's All-Stars .

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 178 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Simon & Schuster .

Herb Dunn is a pseudonym for a well-known author. Under this name, he also wrote Joe DiMaggio: Young Sports Hero. Meryl Henderson has illustrated numerous books for children, including Bats! Stange and Wonderful, and other books in the Strange and Wonderful series. She lives in upstate New York.