On this day in 1947 Jackie Robinson played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the New York Yankees becoming the first black player in major league baseball.

Over ten season with the Dodgers, Robinson played in six World Series winning his only championship in 1955 when the Dodgers beat the Yankees.

He was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games from 1949 to 1954, received the first MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, the first black player so honored.

Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He died of a heart attack on October 24, 1972 at the age of 53. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number 42, across all major league teams.

Jackie Robinson was so popular that in 1949 a song by Buddy Johnson called "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?", reached number 13 on the charts.

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