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Contracts That Helped Launch Desegregation On Display At Marlins Games

Credit Collectors Cafe
Jackie Robinson excelled in a handful of sports as a student at UCLA, including track and basketball. He even played semipro football with the Honolulu Bears before joining the U.S. Army in 1942 during World War II. Robinson never saw combat.

In 1947, a 28-year-old baseball player named Jackie Robinson broke the Major League’s color barrier when he signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. That historical document and others will be on display at two Miami Marlins games this week.

Robinson’s four-page contract with the Dodgers has been authenticated and valued at $36-million. His signature on that piece of paper effectively integrated major league baseball and indirectly sparked the country’s movement against segregation.

Robinson’s starting salary was $5000. He won the league’s first-ever Rookie of the Year award and led the Dodgers to the World Series, where they lost to the Yankees in seven games. A few years later, Robinson became the Dodgers’ highest paid player with a $35-thousand salary.

Robinson’s original signed Major League contract - and his 1945 Minor League contract with the Montreal Royals - can be viewed at the Tuesday night (7:10pm)and Wednesday afternoon (12:10pm) games between the Marlins and the San Francisco Giants.

The documents are touring the country as part of a Freedom Tour launched by Collectors Cafe, a social network and auction house.

 

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