person427 said:
For the record, Jackie Robinson was NOT the first African American baseball player. They were fairly common in the mid-1800's before the major baseball organizations decided to make a rule against it. He's technically not even the first to sign a contract after the rule was made, as another man pretending to be Native American signed on before him, but never had a chance to play. His contribution as the first to play post-segregation is still just as important to history, but misconceptions like that bother me. Give the other guys SOME credit.
The whole situation is just a shame for a lot of other players who never get any recognition. Yes, Jackie Robinson was the first black man to break the no-colored line, but he was joined 3 months later by Larry Doby who jumped straight from the Negro Leagues to the Majors.
And everyone always forgets that a lot of black players were disappointed and a little resentful of Jackie at the time, since they didn't believe he was the best black ball player. They thought Josh Gibson (called the Black Babe Ruth) deserved a chance, or Satchel Paige.
As for the film itself, it wasn't too bad, but I thought it was a little too heavy handed and corny about certain things. Like the whole father-son thing at the Cincinnati game, that had me rolling my eyes
