Jackie Robinson’s 1947 MLB Debut: Ebbets Field, Dodgers and Number 42
Discover what actually happened in Jackie Robinson’s 1947 opening game, and why his career transformed Major League Baseball.
A date that means more than a box score
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. His arrival made him the first Black player in twentieth-century Major League Baseball, breaking the segregation barrier that had shaped the modern major leagues. The distinction matters: Black players had appeared in nineteenth-century major-league settings, and Negro Leagues players had long demonstrated elite baseball skill. Robinson’s breakthrough was not the creation of Black baseball talent but a challenge to the exclusion of that talent from the established white major-league structure. The National Baseball Hall of Fame preserves a contemporary scorebook from the day, allowing readers to compare the event’s tremendous historical meaning with ordinary records of plays, outs, and runs.
The road to Brooklyn was not a straight line
Robinson’s sports story preceded his Dodgers debut. He had athletic experience beyond baseball and played in the Negro Leagues before the Dodgers organization signed him. Major League Baseball records note his time with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945. Dodgers executive Branch Rickey played a pivotal role in recruiting Robinson, and the minor league Montreal Royals became an important stage of his journey toward Brooklyn. Those steps were deliberate responses to entrenched discrimination, not merely routine transfers between clubs. A player who would face extraordinary harassment needed professional ability and personal resolve, while allies within baseball had to decide whether they would defend integration when challenged. Understanding the process makes the debut date more meaningful.
Who was in the ballpark on April 15
Robinson debuted at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn during a season opener against the Boston Braves. The Hall of Fame’s examination of journalist Tom Meany’s scorebook recounts the setting and explains why a contemporary artifact matters. Reporting about the attendance has not always been perfectly consistent: the Hall identifies the commonly cited figure of 26,623 and notes an error in one preserved scorebook entry. A trivia site should avoid asking for an attendance number without explaining the source. What is indisputable in the official story is the date, place, home club, opponent, and historical breakthrough. A reader does not need to memorize a precise crowd count to understand the significance of the game.
An unfamiliar defensive position
Robinson is often remembered as an outstanding second baseman, but he started his first Major League game at first base. The distinction is particularly useful for accurate trivia, because a question about his debut position is not the same as one about the position most associated with his career. The Hall of Fame’s scorebook account records early defensive action, including a groundball play in which Robinson made the putout at first. Baseball positions can shift as players and teams develop their strategies. A first-day lineup is therefore evidence of a specific game rather than a complete career summary. Keeping the detail attached to April 15 avoids an otherwise easy misunderstanding.
What Robinson did at the plate that day
Robinson did not record a hit in his debut. His offensive line was modest, and a casual glance at the box score would not reveal the enduring importance of the occasion. In the seventh inning, however, he reached base on an error during a sacrifice attempt and eventually scored a decisive run as the Dodgers rallied. The Hall of Fame’s analysis traces the sequence, including Pete Reiser’s double, and records the Dodgers’ 5–3 win over Boston. These details help explain how a box score can be accurate yet incomplete as history. The game was memorable not because every at-bat became a highlight, but because Robinson participated in a major institutional change while playing ordinary competitive baseball.
The obstacles were systematic
Robinson faced racist insults, threats, and hostile treatment inside and outside ballparks. Some opposition extended to players who threatened to refuse games rather than accept an integrated major league. Hall of Fame accounts describe the pressure and the support from baseball officials who backed his right to compete. It is important not to romanticize discrimination as a helpful test that Robinson needed. These were injustices he and other Black Americans should not have had to bear. His skill mattered, but his presence also demanded that teammates, opponents, executives, and fans confront institutional choices. That broader social context is essential whenever the 1947 season appears in a sports or American-history quiz.
How the 1947 season developed
The opening day was the beginning, not the culmination, of Robinson’s first Major League campaign. He went on to win the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1947, according to Major League Baseball records. That achievement showed that Robinson was not merely a symbolic selection but a valuable top-level player. It also shifted the discussion beyond whether integration could happen toward how other capable athletes had been excluded. Honors should be matched to the right year: Rookie of the Year belongs to 1947, while his National League Most Valuable Player award belongs to 1949. Trivia questions that confuse those awards erase the timeline of his athletic accomplishment.
A longer Dodgers career and baseball achievement
Robinson played his entire major-league career for the Brooklyn Dodgers, from 1947 through 1956. His record includes All-Star selections, outstanding base running, and a key role on strong Dodgers teams. The 1955 championship became an especially meaningful team milestone. Major League Baseball’s player records provide a reliable way to distinguish career totals and honors from individual-game anecdotes. Those facts establish that Robinson’s career deserves attention as competitive sport even when the historical stakes dominate a retelling. Reducing him to one opening-day appearance would ignore the skill and persistence required across ten seasons. His example was transformative precisely because he remained an accomplished player under intense and unfair scrutiny.
Number 42 and why it is everywhere on April 15
Robinson wore number 42 with the Dodgers. In 1997, fifty years after his historic debut, Major League Baseball retired that number throughout the major leagues. The observance known as Jackie Robinson Day takes place on April 15, and since 2009 all on-field uniformed personnel have been invited to wear number 42 for the occasion. These commemorations belong to separate points on a timeline: 1947 was the debut, 1997 the league-wide number retirement, and 2009 the start of the broader uniform practice described by MLB. This is a useful example of why historical trivia should specify which event a date refers to. One famous number connects several different acts of remembrance.
The Hall of Fame and the meaning of recognition
Robinson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, a year that should not be confused with the beginning of his career or the retirement of his uniform number. The Hall of Fame preserves both his baseball achievements and documentary traces of his breakthrough. Contemporary artifacts such as a scorebook offer a grounded view of events that later celebrations can sometimes simplify. They show that extraordinary history can unfold during a game recorded by ordinary scoring symbols. Recognition decades later is valuable, but it should not conceal the challenges Robinson encountered in his own time. His election also marks the way the sport came to acknowledge an athlete whose presence had changed its institutions.
What “breaking the color barrier” does and does not say
The phrase commonly refers to the reintegration of the modern major leagues when Robinson joined Brooklyn in 1947. It should not imply that Black Americans had never played baseball professionally or that racial exclusion disappeared immediately after his first game. The Negro Leagues had a rich history of high-level play, and many athletes remained denied opportunities. Robinson’s entry opened a critical path, but collective pressure, later players, and broader civil-rights efforts continued to matter. A historically responsible account acknowledges the people and organizations before and after 1947. This framing makes the breakthrough more accurate, not less important, because it shows the particular barrier crossed and the system that required continued change.
How to study the debut with primary records
Begin with April 15, 1947, Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Boston Braves. Add Robinson’s first-base assignment, his hitless batting debut, and the 5–3 Dodgers win. Then examine the Hall of Fame’s surviving scorebook and MLB’s career records to see the difference between a single game and a decade of performance. Finally, connect his 1947 Rookie of the Year award, 1949 MVP award, 1962 Hall of Fame election, and 1997 retirement of number 42. These are distinct events that together explain why Robinson remains central to baseball history and American civic memory. The strongest questions move beyond dates toward the institutional barrier his participation challenged.