Presented by BACON BOISE.
This Day In Sports…January 24, 1950, 75 years ago today:
Jackie Robinson signs what is, at the time, the highest-paying contract in the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was for $35,000 per year (still just $455,000 in today’s dollars). Sheesh—how much would Robinson make now? He and club owner Branch Rickey had become very close in the three seasons since Robinson broke big league baseball’s color barrier in 1947. And Robinson had leverage, as he was coming off an MVP season in 1949 that saw him hit .342 with 16 home runs and 124 runs batted in. He also led the majors with 37 stolen bases.
Robinson would not receive his first raise from the Dodgers until 1952, when he was paid $39,750. But his role in integrating baseball would forever be priceless. Consider that in 2021, a jersey Robinson wore during the 1950 season was auctioned for $4.2 million.
Robinson was National League Rookie of the Year in 1947, and two years later he was the NL’s Most Valuable Player. He played in six World Series and was part of Brooklyn’s world championship team in 1955. The verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse Robinson endured during his first few seasons as a Dodger was well-chronicled, but he famously persevered. Robinson retired after the 1956 season rather than accept a trade to the Dodgers’ hated rivals, the New York Giants, although the point is made that he had already agreed to take an executive position with Chock Full O’ Nuts.
Also, on this day in 1962, Robinson became the first African American elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. After his death in 1972, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On April 15, 1997, the 50thanniversary of Robinson’s big league debut, his No. 42 was retired throughout the majors. Today, all players on all major league teams wear No. 42 on April 15 (or in the game closest to that date).
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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