The impending end of the century has produced, among other things, an abundance of "best of" lists. The best 100 movies of the century, the top 100 novels, the most important inventions, and so forth. ESPN, the cable sports network, has garnered its share of attention with a "Top 50 Athletes of the Twentieth Century" countdown.
Number fifteen on the list was Jackie Robinson. Jackie was an infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers for a decade. Whether he would have been selected among the best athletes of the century for his baseball career alone is one of those debates that make sports – and top-50 lists – fun.
Robinson was an undeniably great player who had some of his best years stolen from him. He was a speedster who led his team to six World Series, won Rookie of the Year honors, an MVP award and was a six-time All-Star.
But it's not because of his marvelous career that Jackie's number 42 is retired in every major league ballpark. It's because on a chilly afternoon in 1947 at Ebbets Field, Robinson took the diamond for the Dodgers to become the first black man to play in a major league baseball game in the modern era.
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