Pee Wee Reese had as much to do with changing baseball as Jackie Robinson did. Reese should not be forgotten in the discussion although he most often is.
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/bbo-reese-robinson.html
Robinson played, and endured vicious abuse from opposing teams, from beanballs and spikings to racial epithets and spitting. Robinson had promised Branch Rickey, the owner and general manager of the Dodgers, that for at least his first two years in the major leagues, he would hold his tongue and his fists, no matter the provocation. And one day — it was probably in Cincinnati, Reese recalled, in 1947 or 1948 — the attack was so nasty that Reese walked over to Robinson and put his hand on the black man’s shoulder.
“Pee Wee kind of sensed the sort of hopeless, dead feeling in me and came over and stood beside me for a while,” Robinson recalled, as quoted in the forthcoming biography “Jackie Robinson,” by Arnold Rampersad (Alfred A. Knopf). “He didn’t say a word but he looked over at the chaps who were yelling at me through him and just stared. He was standing by me, I could tell you that.” The hecklers ceased their attack. “I will never forget it,” Robinson said.
My dad was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers during Jackie’s debut.
We have some interesting pictures on the wall at home featuring my dad and Jackie.
What is left out of many stories about Robinson was that he was a Republican. Another myth about Robinson is that many people believe that if he had failed, there would have been no Blacks in professional sports. The fact is Robinson was the tip of the iceberg. The following year players like Luke Easter and Satchel Paige were playing. Many more entered in the fifties. A number of owners were hoping and waiting for integration. Not that they necessarily had any great desire for integration by itself. They knew there was a ton of excellent black ballplayers just itching for a chance to show what they could do. It’s a stain on the nation’s history they had to wait so long.
Ford Frick, president of the National League, sent an ultimatum; "If you do this, you will be suspended from the league. You will find that the friends you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be outcasts. I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do will encounter quick retribution."