This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/11/2001.
Perhaps the best way to describe the impact that Jack Roosevelt Robinson had on the game of baseball is to refer to the action taken by Major League Baseball during the 1997 season. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the day Jackie first donned a Brooklyn Dodger's uniform, MLB retired Robinson's #42 for every major league team, forever. The man chosen to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball not only had to be a great ballplayer who could excel on that level, but he had to be an individual of courage and strong moral character to withstand the pressure and still be capable of representing his race with honor and dignity. Jackie Robinson was just that kind of ballplayer and more importantly that kind of man. Citing career statistics for Robinson, the 1947 National League Rookie of the Year at the age of 28, seems inadequate because of the short 10-year career limited by race barriers. Still Jackie compiled a .311 lifetime batting average leading the NL in 1949 at .342. In Jackie's 10 years with the Brooklyn Dodgers, they won six NL pennants. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. This wonderful Dodger blue satin jacket worn by Jackie Robinson in the mid-1950s has that magical #42 emblazoned on the jacket's left sleeve in tackle twill. The jacket itself is classically manufactured in a satiny nylon-like material with script Dodgers emblazoned across the front in white tackle twill. In the collar is the "Skinner" tag with a size 42 flag tag below it on the inside left front is a small tag reading "lined with earl-glo rayon," and below that a white tag reading "milium insulated fabric."