Me and the World

(Photo source: forbes.com, 2015)

On October 3, 1974, Baseball racial barriers became broken. Frank Robinson became the first Black manager of a major league baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. During the last two years of his baseball career, Robinson managed the Indians before he went on to manage three other major league teams. Later on, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after winning the World Series twice as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. (Bentz, 2013)

During his early years, he signed with the National League’s Cincinnati Reds after high school. It was then and there when he had his experiences with racism in the minor leagues. He would frequently endure ugly taunts from the baseball fans, and he had to eat in a room that was separate from the rest of his teammates. This was cruel and disheartening, but that did not stop him from pursuing his greatest passion. He did his best and played well enough and eventually earned a chance to join the Reds for the 1956 season. (Biography.com editors, 2015)

(Photo source: grizlr.com, 2015)

(Photo source: tradingcarddb.com, 2015)

In an interview, he became honest about some things. He mentioned that when Phil Seghi, Cleveland Indians General Manager, wanted him to manage the team, he refused at first. But then his agent convinced him otherwise and told him, “Take it or leave it. This is a chance for you to break the barrier and open the door and let more African-Americans have the opportunity to come through it.” And after he thought about it that way, he said he’d take the bullet.

Being the first African-American manager of a baseball team, it was a thrill and at the same time he had to handle a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations and a lot of unhappy people. He experienced several injustices all because of the reason that he was different from the rest of them.  But despite this, he wanted to prove to the world that Blacks can be just as good as other races, and even better. 

(Photo source: waitingfornextyear.com, 2015)

Seeing this from a larger perspective, it tells about the reality of society and just how evident Racism is. If we put it at a hierarchy, the Black people are the ones at the bottom and the White people are the ones at the top. In fact, there should not be such a hierarchy in the first place because men were created to be equal with one another. Due to this, the society has become messed up and forgotten the essence of unity and treat each other so poorly. Yet thanks to these people who were considered as the lowest, the ones who stepped up and fought for their fellow countrymen, there was hope that things could still change. 

(Photo source: quotehd.com, 2015)

(Photo source: rdrevilo.com, 2015)

Racism is an ugly thing. Before we try and discriminate other people, we should try to put ourselves in their shoes first. How we would feel if we were the ones being discriminated just because we are “different”. Instead, let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with ourselves.  

#PrayfortheWorld

Bibliography

Bentz, L. (2013). Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/03/us/october-3-day-in-history/Biography.com editors. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/frank-robinson-9460731#synopsis