On the day of his debut, Robinson's name was placed in the lineup by Dodgers interim manager Clyde Sukeforth, who skippered Brooklyn for the first two games of the 1947 season due to a suspension handed down to manager Leo Durocher. After the first two games, Burt Shotton took over the club for the rest of the year.
"There was something about that man that just gripped you," Sukeforth said. "He was tough, he was intelligent and he was proud."
Robinson played 10 big league seasons, retiring after the 1956 campaign with a .311 career batting average, the 1949 National League Most Valuable Player Award and six World Series appearances. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first appearance on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot in 1962.
"Robinson's arrival in Brooklyn," wrote 1976 BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner Red Smith, "was a turning point in the history and the character of the game."
Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum