During his first season with the Dodgers, Robinson faced challenges that no other player had to deal with. He received death threats from racist fans. Players shouted insults at him. When the Dodgers played in other cities, Robinson often wasn’t allowed to stay in the same hotels as his White teammates.
Many of those teammates didn’t offer Robinson much support. Some of them didn’t like the idea of playing alongside a Black man. Through it all, Robinson never lost his cool.
“I had to fight hard against loneliness, abuse, and the knowledge that any mistake I made would be magnified because I was the only Black man out there,” he later wrote in his autobiography.
Despite all the challenges, Robinson proved he was as good as the best White players. After the 1947 season, he won baseball’s first Rookie of the Year award.