Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

Jackie Robinson’s life inspired his daughter, Sharon Robinson, to focus on baseball issues regarding race. She writes, “[B]aseball was […] America’s pastime. It seemed to represent all that was […] good about America; Democracy. Teamwork. Fair play. Excellence. It also represented America at its worst: Divided. Discriminatory. Unjust” (23). Baseball’s “unjust” elements went beyond race. In Crazy ’08 (Smithsonian Books, 2007), journalist Cait Murphy uses the 1908 season to present a broader history of baseball, discussing the violent atmosphere in stadiums. Despite the race of players on the field, baseball fans were threatening and hostile. People felt unsafe at stadiums, and the precarious atmosphere led to the creation of the American League, which claimed that it had more civilized fans than the National League.

Likewise, players’ salaries reflected unfairness. A student at Bucknell University, Danny Nolan, created an interactive timeline of MLB contracts for players, “Exploring the History of MLB Contracts.” Owners routinely underplayed players, and from 1879 to 1975, they operated under the “reserve clause,” which gave them complete control of their players. St. Louis Cardinals All-Star outfielder Curt Floyd compared the reserve clause to slavery and sharecropping. Jackie felt the impact of the clause when the Dodgers traded him to the New York Giants. He had no say in the transaction; his only option was to leave the sport altogether by retiring. The reserve clause and parsimonious contracts hurt players regardless of their race.

For many baseball followers, baseball isn’t “democratic.” Because the sport lacks a salary cap, teams in bigger markets, like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, can spend unlimited money to secure particular players. In December 2024, young All-Star outfielder Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets—the largest contract in sports history. In “Juan Soto Contract: Six Numbers From Across Sports That Put MLB Star’s $765 Million in Context” (CBS Sports, 10 Dec. 2024), John Fisher explores what the contract says about MLB’s unbalanced economics. The total value is more than the combined payrolls of all 10 teams in the National League Central and American League Central (teams that tend to have smaller markets). As Promises to Keep reveals, baseball is a business, but the increasingly lopsided economics foster competitive disparities that make people less likely to watch the sport.

Sharon credits Rickey for building “baseball’s farm system, which today is called the minor leagues” (27). However, the minor leagues have become an example of “divided,” “discriminatory,” and “unjust” practices. In “Can a Union Fix This? Minor Leaguers Say Poverty-Level Pay, Poor Housing Are Driving a ‘Mental Health Crisis’” (ESPN, 30 Sept. 2021), Joon Lee examines the many problems facing minor leaguers, including poverty-level pay, lack of housing, and absence of nutritious meals. To stay in the minor leagues, players take on debt or work multiple jobs, and the strain leads to mental health concerns. Jackie spent a year in the minor leagues, but if he played in the minor leagues today, his persistence would serve him well in enduring a cross-section of challenges.