Chicago White Sox: Jackie Robinson’s impact on them
The Chicago White Sox were in the American League but Jackie Robinson still made an impact on them along with every team in the MLB.
The Chicago White Sox never had the honor of playing against Jackie Robinson. He was a National League player for the Brooklyn Dodgers so they only would have played each other in the World Series back then and it never happened. The only American League team that Jackie Robinson ever played against in the World Series was the New York Yankees.
The Yankees won every World Series against Brooklyn in Robinson’s career except once. In 1955, the Dodgers finally did it and won the World Series. In his Hall of Fame career, he was a batting title winner, MVP, rookie of the year, and six-time all-star. There is no doubt that on top of breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier, he was an elite player. For that reason, his number 42 is retired in all 30 Major League stadiums, including Guaranteed Rate Field.
It is really cool to go to a White Sox game and look up and see all of the retired numbers. They are all in black because of it being the White Sox primary color, but 42 is in Dodger blue to honor Robinson. With today being Jackie Robinson’s day, it is easy to remember how much he impacted this organization. We won’t be watching a baseball game where every player is wearing 42, so we have to look for other ways to honor the legend this year.
There have been so many African-American players to play for the White Sox over the years since Robinson broke the color barrier. In fact, the greatest player in franchise history was an African-American player named Frank Thomas. He is arguably the best right-handed hitter of all time en route to going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Related Story. Yoan Moncada is the best Chicago baseball player. light
Tim Anderson represented the White Sox in 2019 as the winner of the Major League Baseball batting title. He is going to be a key piece to this team for a long time. Players like Thomas and Anderson, past and present, are extremely important pieces in the history of this great franchise. It was all possible thanks to Jackie Robinson. Today, we all wear number 42.