Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Ozzie Smith and Tony Gwynn; What do they all have in common? They are all some of the most famous African-American baseball players to ever play in the Major Leagues. One man, though, allowed them all to play in the Major Leagues. That man's name is Jackie Robinson. Although Jackie Robinson faced many adversities throughout his life, he persevered and became the first African American in Major League Baseball, breaking the color barrier and changing the world of baseball forever. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, to Jerry and Malli Robinson. President Theodore Roosevelt, who died twenty-five days before Robinson's birth, was the inspiration for his middle name (42 Facts). Robinson's first bout of adversity came just six months after his birth, when his father abandoned the family and ran away to Texas with his neighbor's wife. Robinson and his four older brothers were raised alone by their mother. After his father abandoned the family, Robinson's mother decided to sell what little they had and move her and her children with her brother to Pasadena, California (Robinson, Jackie). While his mother was at work, Robinson went to school with his older sister, Willa Mae, but because he was not old enough to be enrolled, he often had to sit in the sandbox outside school all day. Robinson's first encounter with racial policing occurred when he was about eight years old. He was sweeping the sidewalk when a little white girl nearby shouted, "Nigger, nigger, nigger!" against him. He was old enough to know how to respond and he did so by calling the little girl “cracker.” His father ran out of the house to confront Rob... media... dog TV sports analyst. He broadcast for ABC's MLB Game of the Week in 1965 (42 Facts). On October 24, 1972, Robinson died of complications from diabetes in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 53. Many people say their diabetes got worse because of the stress they felt. he's been down his whole life. In June of that year, the Dodgers retired Robinson's uniform number 42 and every team in the league began following and retiring the number 42 as well. Baseball would be extremely different than it is now if it weren't for Jackie Robinson. He didn't just break the color barrier, he showed this country that if you never give up, great things can happen. It united blacks and whites in a time when it was difficult to do such a thing. Jackie Robinson will always be one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game. After all, he was driven to become the greatest.