ANALYZING THE MOVIE 42

Curtis Brackus

History 1700 4/7/14







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Baseball movies do not perform typically well at the box office with the exception of the
movie 42. This film was an instant hit because not only did it apply to baseball fans, but it
applied to Americans as a whole. The date is April 15th 1947, a young ball player by the name
of Jackie Robinson prepares to make history as he trots out onto the field as the first African
American to play in Major League Baseball. For the previous six decades, African Americans
were only permitted to play baseball in the Negro Leagues
1
. Due to racial segregation, the color-
line in baseball was more concise than the line of chalk laid down on the base path. Jackie
Robinson challenged this color line and helped pave the way for a civil revolution to take place
in America.
In 1942 Robinson joined the Army and was assigned to a Fort Hood, Texas where he
joined the 761
st
Tank Battalion. On July 6, 1944, Jackie boarded an unsegregated military bus
and sat down in an open seat. The bus driver instructed Jackie to move to the back of the bus but
he refused. Once they arrived to their destination, the bus driver summoned the military police
to take Robinson in for questioning and was even court martialed. The charges accused him of
behaving with disrespect toward Captain Gerald M. Bear, his superior officer and Willful
disobedience of lawful command. After a four-hour trial, he was found not guilty of the
specific charges and was exonerated. The gesture of refusing to move to the back of the bus will
become a civil rights motion for Rosa Parks more than a decade later
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. They did not include this
event in the movie and it is a shame because I felt it would help set up the character of Jackie
Robinson. They did however have a scene in the movie where the team bus stopped by a service
station to fill up, the owner refused to let the team use the white only restroom so Jackie

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson (accessed 4/7/14)
2
http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp (accessed 4/7/14)
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instructed his team to stop pumping the gas and that they would go buy gas some place else.
This event was accurate and I am glad it was included, though I do believe the bus scene would
have been more powerful.
Jackie had rough times ahead of him and for him to enter the pros two major factors had
to occur. One was Jackies personality; strong, independent, and was willing to stand up to racial
discrimination. The second thing was the timing of Branch Rickey who was the owner of the
Brooklyn Dodgers, had been open to integrating African Americans into his ball club since he
got approval from the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1943
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. Branch spent his time scouting the
Negro Leagues not only trying to find the best ballplayer but also the right man. In their first
meeting, Ricky played the role of a bigoted baseball fan asking Jackie what he would do if he
was called a no good so and so.. stressing the point that whatever was said to him he could not
retaliate. Jackie asked do you want a player that does not have the courage to fight back?
Rickey responded no, Im looking for a player with the courage NOT to fight back. Convinced
that Jackie was the right man for the job, on August 28
th
1945, Rickey signed Robinson to a
Minor League contract with the Montreal Royals for $600 per month and a $3500 signing bonus.
Which was upheld truthfully in the movie.
His first at bat for the royals came in 1946, the movie shows he was walked his first at bat
and stole his way around the bases and scored for his team. In fact he did not walk his first at bat
but did have a successful game batting 4 for 5, and they did get the fact correct that he forced the
pitcher to bock twice during the game, a result of getting in the pitchers head with his incredible
base running skills. Although the Movie depicts the spring training club to train in Panama

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Rickey (accessed 4/8/14)
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when in fact the Montreal Royals hold their spring training in Havana, Cuba
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I thought they
portrayed Jackie Robinsons Minor League career very well. He would end the season as the
batting champion and led the Royals to a league championship. Since there was no rule
officially banning African Americans from baseball, the next step for Jackie was un-questionably
the big leagues. That is where he belonged after all.
One of Jackies first challenges was to survive the MLB owners. Upon Rickeys
announcement that they would pick up Jackie Robinsons contract, the other 15 MLB owners
voted against it. Luckily for Jackie, Branch Rickey had a lonely yet powerful ally on his side:
Baseballs new commissioner Happy Chandler who would overrule the other owners votes and
accept him into the league. I feel they could have done a better job stating specifically how the
other owners voted on this issue (this was left out of the movie entirely).
The next challenge Robinson faced was unfortunately his own Dodger teammates. Dixie
Walker (a fan favorite) began circulating a petition among the other teammates stating they
would not play on the same field with Jackie Robinson.
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A handful of teammates signed the
petition but when manager Leo Durocher caught wind of the petition, he lit into Walker in front
of the team stating he would play an elephant over his own brother if he had the talent. I
thought this scene did an excellent job expressing how much backing Leo Durocher had for
Jackie Robinson and that he was a team manager, if the decision helped the team, he would not
let anything get in his way.
The racial tension extended much further than within the Dodgers Club. Aggressive play
targeted Jackie and although they showed some of it in the movie like for example when they

4
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/la/history/jackie_robinson_timeline/timeline_1.jsp (accessed 4/8/14)
5
http://www.thisgreatgame.com/1947-baseball-history.html (accessed 4/8/14)
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would pitch him inside or try to hit him at the plate. But I feel they left out some notably dirty
plays that could have emphasized exactly what Jackie had to put up with on a day-to-day basis.
One event on April 22, 1947, during a game with Cardinals. Jackie was covering 2
nd
base and
Enos Slaughter
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slid into Jackie with his metal spikes up, which is a very dirty play in baseball
and left Jackie with a 7 inch laceration on his leg.
Aside from the physical abuse, the movie showed signs of verbal abuse as well not only
from the other players but also their team managers. Most notably was manager of the Phillies
Ben Chapman. He would often shout racial slurs to Jackie as he tried to focus on the game. In
one scene it shows the verbal abuse getting to Jackie and he goes into the clubhouse and in an act
of rage smashes his wooden bat into pieces. Although this scene is not based on fact, it does
show a powerful message of some of the things Jackie had to deal with on a regular basis. As
the season went on, some of his teammates came around and had Jackie Robinsons back. Pee
Wee Reese encouraged Jackie and once stated you can hate a man for many reasons. Color is
not one of them.
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Another moment Reese came to his defense was when they entered a
particularly harsh environment in Cincinnati facing a roar of boos from the crowed as the game
was about to start. Reese walked over to Robinson and placed his arm around his shoulder. This
was a very powerful moment in the movie as well as in history. On November 1
st
, 2005 a
sculptor named William Behrends unveiled a statue at Key Span Park that commemorates this
gesture.
Robinson finished the season playing 151 games for the Dodgers with a batting average
of .297. He also would lead the league in stolen bases with 29. His performance earned him the

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Baseball_career (accessed 8/15/14)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Baseball_career (accessed 8/15/14)
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Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award
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His success in Major League Baseball
encouraged other African American athletes to begin integration not only for baseball but served
as a flagship for other sports as well.
In 1949 Robinson was allowed to become more of his own self with the diminishing of
the color line. He was able to be animated with his teammates and if he felt injustice with an
umpire we would be able to speak his mind. This transition was shown well in the film when his
teammates finally allowed Jackie to shower in the same room as them.
His best performing season came in 1947 when he could really blossom as a player. He
ended the season with a .342 average and 37 stolen bases, earning him the league MVP award.
Jackie went on to play 10 years with Brooklyn and was traded to the New York Giants in 1956.
A month later the 37 year old Robinson announced his retirement. His first year of eligibility for
the Baseball Hall of Fame was in 1962. He asked his voters to only consider his play on the field
rather than the cultural impact on the game. He was elected on the first ballot becoming the first
African American to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They did not have time to cover his best
season in the film which was disappointing to me.
On June 4
th
, 1972 the Dodgers retired his uniform number 42. In 2004 Jackie Robinson
Day was first introduced to remember his efforts on and off the field. The day takes place on
April 15
th
which marks the first day Jackie played with a MLB Dodger jersey on. Today, players
on both teams wear the number 42 to mark the event on Jackie Robinson Day. The number 42 is
the only number retired in all of baseball to this day. President and Chief Operation Officer of

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http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/mlb_awards_content.jsp?content=roy_history (accessed 8/15/14)
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Major League baseball described Jackie Robinson Day as a significance not only for baseball,
but for our country in general.
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I understand it is difficult to compact so much history into a 2 hour movie but I felt they
did a good job overall. There are details that I would have liked to have been added but when
you take a step back and look at the big picture, I found the movie to be very accurate on the
main events and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie as a whole. The ending scenes shows slides
with captions and for Rachel and Jackie Robinson and states they started the Jackie Robinson
Foundation in 1973 and still provides scholarships to colleges across the country today. What
was not mentioned was how far ahead of the Civil Rights movement Jackie Robinson was and it
begs for the question. Where would we be today without the trail being blazed by Jackie
Robinsons 65 years ago.







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Barry M Bloom Robinsons legacy celebrated at Shea MLB.com (accessed 4/15/14)
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Bibliography
1. Loen, James W. (1995) Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got
Wrong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson (accessed 4/7/14)
2. http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp (accessed 4/7/14)
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Rickey (accessed 4/8/14)
4. http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/la/history/jackie_robinson_timeline/timeline_1.jsp (accessed 4/8/14)
5. http://www.thisgreatgame.com/1947-baseball-history.html (accessed 4/8/14)
6. Wormser, Richard, (2002) Jackie Robinson Integrates Baseball
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Baseball_career (accessed 8/15/14)
7. Newman, Mark, (2007) 1947: A Time For Change
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Baseball_career (accessed 8/15/14)
8. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/mlb_awards_content.jsp?content=roy_history (accessed 8/15/14)
9. Barry M Bloom Robinsons legacy celebrated at Shea MLB.com (accessed 4/15/14)