Jackie Robsinson's 1946 American Baseball Bureau Questionnaire

“AMBITION IN BASEBALL: TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR NEGROES IN ORGANIZED BALL”

This remarkable document is one of the most significant from the intersection of sports, Civil Rights, and America’s society and place in the world. It preserves a perfect expression of one brave man's mission to change not only the sport of baseball, but the hearts and minds of a nation.

This questionnaire from the American Baseball Bureau was used for players entering the major leagues from the 1940s through the '70s. Typical responses to the question on goals include playing for a certain team or in a particular position. Roy Campanella wished “to catch for Brooklyn Dodgers,” Robin Roberts wanted to "Be Major League Pitcher,” Bobby Doerr hoped “To play in World Series.” Others, like Eddie Yost, left that blank. Jackie’s answer points to a much bigger objective.

Exactly five months before Robinson set pen to paper on this historic document, he’d engaged in a lengthy heart-to-heart with Brooklyn Dodgers general manager and fellow future Hall of Famer Branch Rickey, who was looking for one African American player to integrate major league ball. After pointed probing, Rickey asked if Robinson would be able to endure the taunts and threats of segregationists without responding in anger. Robinson, disturbed by the query, asked, “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” Rickey responded, "No. I'm looking for one with the guts not to fight back."

And so the two men would enter into a partnership more important than any other in the history of American sports, one that would ultimately rid baseball of its greatest sin. Robinson would spend the 1946 season preparing by playing for the Dodgers’ Triple-A farm club, the Montreal Royals.

Robinson identifies Rickey as the person to whom he owes the most in baseball, and lists the Kansas City Monarchs as previous baseball experience. Even the absence of an answer is quite meaningful. In response to the question about “your most interesting or unusual experience while in the [military] service?,” Jackie could have mentioned that he fought and beat a 1944 court martial for refusing to sit in the back of a bus. Eleven years later, Rosa Parks gained immortality for the same principled act of civil disobedience.

★ JACKIE ROBINSON. Printed Document Accomplished and Signed “Jack Roosevelt Robinson,” American Baseball Bureau questionnaire answered during spring training, undated, but early March, 1946, stamped “28 March, 1946” upon receipt back in Chicago. 1 p., 8½ x 14 in. #27010