Before Barry Bonds, earlier than Reggie Jackson, earlier than Hank Aaron, baseball’s stars had one simple trait in commonplace: they had been all white. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke that barrier, putting a a very powerful blow for racial equality and converting the arena of sports activities perpetually. I By no means Had It Made is Robinson’s personal candid, onerous-hitting account of what it took to transform the primary black guy in historical past to play within the best leagues.
I By no means Had It Made recollects Robinson’s early years and affects: his time at UCLA, the place he become the varsity’s first 4-letter athlete; his military stint all the way through Global Conflict II, while he challenged Jim Crow rules and narrowly escaped court docket martial; his years of frustration, off and on the sector, with the Negro Leagues; and in any case that fateful day while Department Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers proposed what become referred to as the “Noble Test” – Robinson could step as much as bat to combine and revolutionize baseball.
More than a baseball tale, I By no means Had It Made additionally unearths the highs and lows of Robinson’s lifestyles after baseball. He recounts his political aspirations and civil rights activism; his friendships with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, William Buckley, Jr., and Nelson Rockefeller; and his afflicted courting along with his son, Jackie, Jr.
Originally printed the yr Robinson died, I By no means Had It Made endures as an inspiring tale of a person whose heroism prolonged way past the enjoying box.
