Description:

Robinson Jackie 1919 - 1972 Stunning Jackie Robinson signed sports banquet pamphlet
An annual P.B.E.A. (Pitney Bowes Employees' Association) Sports Banquet pamphlet which included two guest speakers, Jackie Robinson and Maurice "Moe" Magliola. Boldly signed to the front wrap by Jackie Robinson in blue ink as "Best wishes / Jackie Robinson". The pamphlet event is dated "May 17, 1956. Near fine soft wraps, 5.5" x 8.5", 19 pages, with light handling marks and toning. Bound with two staples. Near fine with a clean vibrant signature.


Robinson, a phenomenal baseball legend, had an exceptional 10-year baseball career. He was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949. He played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Series championship Robinson let forefront as a an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers, by signing Robinson, heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

It is hard today to imagine the period in baseball in which Robinson rose to excellence. Suffice it to say, Robinson pursued potential major-league interests only to find that most were a farce chiefly designed to assuage the desegregationist sensibilities. By the mid 1940's the Brooklyn Dodgers began to scout the Negro leagues for a possible addition to the Dodgers' roster. General Manager, Rickey selected Robinson from a list of promising black players and interviewed him for possible assignment to Brooklyn's International League farm club, the Montreal Royals. Rickey was especially interested in making sure his eventual signee could withstand the inevitable racial abuse that would be directed at him. In a famous three-hour exchange on August 28, 1945, Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial animus without taking the bait and reacting angrily—a concern given Robinson's prior arguments with law enforcement officials at PJC and in the military. Robinson was aghast: "Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?" Rickey replied that he needed a Negro player "with guts enough not to fight back!" And Six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues at the advanced age of 28.

This incredible signed pamphlet from the year of his retirement in 1956 was only 9 years after Robinson's major league debut. In 1956, Robinson he had begun to exhibit the effects of diabetes, and lost interest in the prospect of playing or managing professional baseball. His career consisted on several important breakthroughs including bringing an end to approximately sixty years of segregation in professional baseball. Most notably, Robinson's career is generally considered to mark the beginning of the post-"long ball" era in baseball, in which a reliance on raw power-hitting gave way to balanced offensive strategies that used footspeed to create runs through aggressive base running. Robinson exhibited the combination of hitting ability and speed which exemplified the new era. Robinson has been referred to by author David Falkner as "the father of modern base-stealing"

A fantastic signed piece of this amazing legend, in highly collectible condition.

Provenance: Accompanied by an LOA from James Spence.

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June 14, 2017 10:30 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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