42 The True Story of Jackie Robinson

Steven Davis






















History 1700
Professor Hanson
April 24, 2016

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In the year 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play Major League

Baseball. Because of the significance of this event and the fact that there had never been a
black man welcomed in Major League Baseball there has been a number of movies that have
told the story of Jackie Robinson. I have chosen to look at the movie 42 that claims to be the
true story of Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson had gone through many hardships and trials and I
believe that this movie has done a fairly good job at depicting them. Obviously, there are some
things that the producers of this movie chose to leave out. They also chose to add some
dramatization into the movie as well. This dramatization is added mainly to the parts where the
people are having private conversations and also on things that have no type of a written
record. I am going to be looking over some of the parts that stand out to me and I am going to
find out if they hold some truth. I myself feel that this was a very good movie and they were
able to get enough of the story correct to give it historical value.
As I have watched this movie I tried to question what is real and what has been added
to make the story better or more attractive to people who watch this movie. I remember when
this movie came out, people on ESPN talked about it and how well they think that it depicted
and reenacted the many photos that they have seen of Jackie Robinson. I have seen many of
the photos myself and was able to recognize them when they were happening during the
movie. I do not know if what was said before the photos were taken or what exactly was said
after. I think that this is where the dramatization comes into play, but I feel that they did a good
job with what they had to work with.
One of the first times we see Jackie Robinson in the movie, he is standing in front of a
bathroom that says whites only. The man pumping the gas said, you cant go in there.

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Jackie then said in a disrespectful tone, we will fill up with gas somewhere else then. The man
finally caves in and lets him use the bathroom. Just as that happens Jackie is approached by a
representative of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is something the movie gets right and wrong but
they do it to help speed up the movie and keep the audience involved with the story. Jackie did
tell the man pumping the gas for his Negro baseball teams bus that he should stop pumping the
gas and we will fill up somewhere else. What they got wrong, in order to speed up the movie,
was to have the representative from Dodgers come and talk to Jackie at the same time. While
he did track him down and talk to him; it was just at a different time (1).
Branch Rickey was the President and General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and was
in charge of hiring players for the baseball club. It was an unwritten gentlemans rule that
blacks were not allowed in baseball. Branch Rickey was a vary smart man and also brave to take
a chance and try to bring a black man into baseball. He was a very big fan of baseball and knew
that there were black players that had talent in the Negroes League and he wanted to have a
winning team that also would improve the game overall. Branch Rickey knew that it was
probably going to be the hardest thing he had ever done but he was willing to take the risk. He
also knew that Jackie Robinson would have to be tough enough to face racism and
discrimination by the crowds and also teammates. Branch Ricky made sure that Jackie knew
that this was going to happen the first time they had a meeting. In the movie he does this also.
He gets mad at him and calls him some raciest names to try and get him to fight with him.
Jackie was clearly mad and wanted to do something about it, but he didnt. I could not find any
written record about the meeting. I, however, did find out that during the first meeting Branch

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Ricky did talk to Jackie Robinson about the blowback that the team and Jackie would face. I
would put this as something the movie did correctly, but may not have been so dramatic (2).
Later in the movie Jackie and his wife are waiting in an airport to catch an airplane to go
to spring training for the Montreal Royals. Jackies wife sees a bathroom that has a sign on it that
said, Whites Only. She reacts rashly and marches into the bathroom. Shortly after the incident
they are bumped from the flight. Jackie sees some white people getting on the airplane and gets
very upset over the matter and demands that they get their seats back. Jackie did tell a story that
they where taken off the flight but he says it was because of a military purpose and not the
reason the movie depicted. They were able to catch a flight the next mourning and had to take a
Greyhound the rest of the way. I think that the movie had some of this right but added some
embellishment to give it a better spin.
In the movie Jackie shows up to spring training for the Montreal Royals and is the only
black ball player there. When he got there he was met by a writer who was also black. Actually,
in real life there was another black baseball player there as well. His name was John Wright and
he was a pitcher. There was also a black photographer that accompanied them as well. So in all
there was four black men at that spring training session. I feel that the producers decided to
leave this out to cause a more dramatic effect. The filmmakers wanted to depict the view that it
was Jackie versus the world and he was all alone (3).
There is also another scene in the movie where a young black boy attends a game with
his mother and then follows the team to the train station. While at the train station Jackie
tosses the boy a baseball and the three young black kids chase the train until it pulls off into the
distance and then the boy puts his ear to the tracks to listen to the train as it gets farther and
farther away. I thought that this was pretty far fetched, but I was pleasantly shocked and

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surprised to find out that this incident was true. It turns out that the boy did exist and his name
was Ed Charles. I also thought it was crazy to find out that he ended up becoming a professional
baseball player as well. "We followed the train after it left as far as we could," Charles told
Maury Allen. "We figured we could stay close to Jackie by holding on to the track after it left.
We ran as far as we could and then we put our heads down on the track to feel the vibrations, to
stay with Jackie Robinson as long as possible (4)." I enjoyed this part of the movie even though I
originally had thought that this was Hollywood fluff. It is a make you feel good scene that
happens to be true.
During the spring training games in the movie the games were being played in the south
so there was a lot of discrimination and racist people. When Jackie first takes the field the crowd
started yelling out a bunch of racist slurs. I did not find anything saying exactly what was said
but I would not doubt that it did happen. In the game he hits a home run and as he crosses home
plate there is a sheriff waiting for Jackie. The sheriff stated that this black man needs to get off
the field and insists that Jackie is breaking the law. The coach starts to put up a fight but gets
shut down really fast. You could see that this caused Jackie distress and anger. What I was able
to find out was that there was an incident that happened during that game. Jackie was not
allowed to finish the game and had to leave. The people of Deland, Florida did find a way to
keep black players and white players from competing on the baseball fields (5). I think that
something did happen that caused Jackie to be removed from the game, but again I feel that
Hollywood got the gist of the situation right but also took some liberty to make it more dramatic.
When Jackie was given the news that he would be added to the Brooklyn Dodgers roster
some of the players wanted nothing to do with it. They even signed a petition threatening to
leave the team if they did not get rid of Jackie Robinson. This was something that did happen

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and Branch Ricky told his team manager that he needed to inform the players that Jackie
Robinson was going to be on the team no matter what. Branch then asked his manager if he had
any problems with Jackie joining the team. Leo Durochers reply was he did not care what color
he was as long as they could help the Dodgers win. Leo then informs the team that Jackie
Robinson was going to be joining the team whether they like it or not. Leo said that he did not
care if he had zebra skin that he was going play and be on the team. This meeting has also been
recorded as happening and even Leo said himself, I dont care if he is yellow or black or has
stripes like a fucking zebra. Im his manager and I say he plays. (6) This was a big deal for
Jackie to have the manager supporting him and it probably was one of the major reasons that
Jackie was able to play in the Major League that year.
Unfortunately, Leo Durocher was suspended that year by the Commissioner of baseball
for being involved in illegal gambling. The movie touched on this, but instead of gambling they
said it was because of immoral acts that Leo was involved in. I think that Major League Baseball
had a say in the matter of not wanting to have illegal gambling depicted in this movie. This has
always been a touchy subject with Major League Baseball and they tend to stay away from it as
much as possible. I feel that the movie got the gist of this right and understand why they left out
the gambling part.
There is a part in the movie that really caught my attention and I wanted to know if there
was some truth behind it. During the Cardinals game the Manager Ben Chapman started to
harass and call Jackie disgusting and horrible racist slurs in the movie. I did not know if this was
true or not so I did some digging on the scene and what I found out was that there is some truth
to it and that Jackie was not the only ball player to get harassed by the Cardinals Manager. Ben
Chapman did this on many occasions to players like DiMaggio, Ed Walsh, and Ty Cobb (11).

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This part of the movie made me feel vary sympathetic towards Jackie and apparently I was not
the only one. What Ben did for Jackie was probably one of the best things that could have
happened. In harassing him and calling him those names some of Jackies teammates stood up
for him because they knew that Jackie could not fight back. This was part of the agreement that
Jackie and Branch Ricky agreed upon. What Ben did helped to unite and strengthen the bonds
between the teammates of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and also provided sympathy from the fans.
When I was reading an article about the movie I came across a section that talked about
the player asking Jackie why he never showers with the team? It ends up being a funny scene
that has one of the players asking Jackie to come take a shower with him. The player then
corrects himself by saying the team and not just him. Ralph Branca is the one asking why Jackie
will not shower with the team. As I watched the show I did not pay it much attention because I
felt that this was just trying to give the audience a sense of sympathy for Jackie and figured it
was made up. In real life this did also happen. It was not Ralph but was Al Gionfriddo who
talked Jackie into joining the team in the showers (7).
Later in the film Red Barber who was the radio announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers said
that Jackie Robinson had stolen twenty-seven bases that season and had never be caught. I think
that this is most likely too good to be true but after looking up his baseball stats for that season
he did in fact steal twenty-seven bases. The thing that is left out or not kept track of was the
number of times he got caught stealing was not a statistic at that time. It would have been
incredible if he was able to do that. This is one thing Hollywood got right just because they did
not have a statistic that kept track of Caught Stealing. I again understand why they would
choose to leave this out. It makes Jackie look like more of an insanely heroic baseball god. We as
people always tend to look at our heroes with rose colored glasses. We also tend to forget the

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negative things that they did and only focus on the positive aspects and accomplishments. This is
a way of making the story better and could get people more involved in the history of baseball.
I know that with only two hours it is hard to capture a whole year of someones life.
There are obviously going to be thing that get left out or just not mentioned throughout the
movie. I will take some of those things that they left out or got wrong to see if it will justify my
feelings of this movie having historical significance.
Earlier I wrote about how he was not the only black man at spring training. It turns out
that he was not the only black player to play baseball that season in Major League Baseball. Dan
Blackhead joined the Dodgers in 1947 as well. Although he did not make it into the movie. I can
see why they would not add him. Dan Blackhead only played four games that season and
probably had very little impact on the success of the Brooklyn Dodgers season (8). It also would
have cost the production of the movie to go up. I feel that it could have been added but for the
sake of not dragging on the movie or detracting from the star of the movie itself, I agree with the
choice on leaving it out.
I did take note to something else that happened towards the end of the movie. During the
last game of the Brooklyn Dodgers forty-seventh season Jackie hits the game winning home run
that causes the Dodgers to win their division. I thought to myself, this can not be true. After
reading an article about the movie it turns out there is a little bit of truth to it but this has a bit of
Hollywood spin to it. He did hit a homerun that helped them win the division but it was not in
the last game. It was in the second to last game and it was not a walk off win for them either (9).
I completely understand why the movie ends this way. I cant even remember a sports movie that
does not end without some dramatic touchdown or an amazing save or even in this case a walk
off homerun that wins the game. This is added for the audience; I do not think that anyone wants

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to go see a baseball movie that ends with a player getting tagged out at second base. It just does
not have that good feeling to it like a homerun does.
One of the other things that the movie did not go into much detail was about Jackies
childhood or past. He was an Officer in the military and had attended college and was an
amazing football player for UCLA (10). The only part I can really remember the movie touching
on his past was a reference that Jackie makes about how his father was never there for him but he
was going to be there for his son. I feel that they could have done more with his past because of
all the amazing things that he has accomplished. However, I can see why they chose to leave it
out. It would cause the production cost to go up by hiring that many actors and it would also take
a lot of time to film.
After looking at the major parts of the movie and doing some research I was able to find
out that most of the really important stuff that happened in the movie actually did happen in real
life. I was also able to see a lot of the legendary influence that had been projected on Jackie. We
all want to see our heroes through rose colored glasses. That is why Jackie was a hero. He helped
usher in a new age where black and whites could work together and be seen as equals.
Throughout reading the articles and history of Jackie Robinson I was able to find out more about
what he did and accomplished in his life. I really enjoyed this movie and would consider it to
have enough of the history correct to consider it to have historical value.

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Bibliography
Barra, Allen. 2013. What Really Happend To Ben Chapman, the Raciest Baseball Player in 42?
April 13.
Bryant, Howard. 2013. Wrighting The Wrongs of The Movie 42. Espn, April 24.
Neyer, Rob. 2013. Digging Into "42" . SB-Nation, Apr 19.
Staff, History.com. 2016. Jackie Robinson Breaks Major League Color Barrier. A+E Networks,
April 21.
Wikipedia. 2016. Ben Chapman (baseball). April 13.
Wikipedia. 2016. Jackie Robinson. April 20.

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Footnotes:
SB Nation (1) Same scene, two important things happen: Jackie strikes a small blow against
segregation -- he threatens to take his team's business elsewhere if a filling-station attendant
doesn't let him use the lavatory -- and Dodgers scout Clyde Sukeforth pops into the movie and
invites Robinson to Brooklyn. Of course it didn't happen this way, but it's true that Jackie did
supposedly strike this blow, and it's true that Sukeforth did track Jackie down and convince him
to meet with Branch Rickey in Brooklyn. This scene is short-hand, and the necessary sort.
(3) In real life, pitcher John Wright was there, too. In the movie, it's Jackie Robinson and writer
Wendell Smith braving segregationist Florida; in real life, it was Robinson and Wright and Smith
and photographer
(4) "We followed the train after it left as far as we could," Charles told Maury Allen. "We
figured we could stay close to Jackie by holding on to the track after it. We ran as far as we could
and then we put our heads down on the track to feel the vibrations, to stay with Jackie Robinson
as long as possible."
Maybe that actually happened, and maybe it didn't. But the point is that there is a record of it
happening. And "Helicopter" Charles, no doubt inspired by Jackie Robinson, did sign with the
Braves in 1952, and he did play third base for the Mets in 1969.
(5) he scores a run in a game in Deland and is immediately ordered from the field by the local
sheriff. What really happened in Sanford and Deland? The contemporary accounts and the
memories are hazy, but it's very clear that some powerful people in that part of the country did
what they could -- short of actual violence, thankfully -- to keep black players and white players
from playing together on the local diamonds.
(7) There's an odd, supposed-to-be-funny scene that's not really funny, wherein Ralph Branca

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convinces Jackie that it's okay to shower with the rest of the team. This seems to have actually
happened, but it seems to have been Al Gionfriddo who did the convincing. I suspect it's Branca
in the movie because a) today Branca's still hale and hearty, while Gionfriddo died 10 years ago,
and b) Gionfriddo didn't join the Dodgers until May, while we meet Branca (in the movie) on
Opening Day.
(8) Jackie hadn't been alone in spring training in 1946, he also wasn't alone during the '47 season
with the Dodgers. Not during all of it, anyway; in late August, Dan Bankhead joined the Dodgers
and eventually got into four games.
(9) Jackie hits a dramatic home run in what is supposedly the Dodgers' pennant-clinching
victory. Well, he did hit a big home run but the Dodgers didn't clinch until a day or two later.
But, you know, it's baseball and what's a baseball movie without a dramatic home run?

Wikipedia(2) Rickey knew that Robinson would face racism and discrimination. Rickey made it
clear in their momentous first meeting that he anticipated wide-scale resistance both inside and
outside baseball to opening its doors to Negroes.

Society for American Baseball Research (6) Durocher flatly told them to wipe your ass with the
petition. Finally, Leo concluded, many black players shared his own fierce desire to win. They
were hungry, and unless the Dodgers and the other white players themselves played harder, they
would find themselves replaced. Leo cared about winning, and if that meant starting black
players, he had no problem doing so. He went public with his support for Robinson: I dont care
if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. Im his manager and I say he plays.

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This Day in History: Apr 15 (10) Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born into a family of
sharecroppers on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. He attended UCLA, where he became the
first athlete to letter in four varsity sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. He served in
the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1944 and was honorably discharged after facing insubordination
charges for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus.

What Really Happened to Ben Chapman (11) Over the years, retired players and sportswriters
I've talked to have confirmed that, yes, baseball banter was pretty harsh back then and ethnic
slurs and insults were a big part of Depression-era and post-World War II baseball. They did say
those things to DiMaggio and Greenberg, and, yes, a lot of northern players did harass southern
boys mercilessly. (Sample: Ed Walsh, born and raised in Pennsylvania, loved to yell at. Georgiaborn Ty Cobb, "Cobb, I hear you're from Royston, where men are men and sheep are nervous!")