Liveblogging Postwar: April 18, 1946: Jackie Robinson
: Player recalls Jackie Robinson making history in Jersey City, April 18, 1946:
A player for the Jersey City Giants baseball team who squared off against Jackie Robinson on April 18, 1946 -- when Robinson made history by breaking the color barrier in organized baseball -- said the significance of the game didn't sink in first.
'I didn't appreciate it at the time,' Larry Miggins, 87, said this week of the minor-league game against Robinson's Montreal Royals in front of 52,000 at Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium.
'He bunted to me twice and I was playing him back and he beat my throw to first both times,' said Miggins, of Houston, Texas, who played third base. 'I gave him a great introduction to organized baseball.'
A year later -- on April 15, 1947 -- Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, playing as a Brooklyn Dodger at Ebbets Field.
While Robinson endured many racial epithets during his career with the Royals and then Brooklyn Dodgers, Miggins didn't recall any of his teammates making racist comments toward the future Hall of Famer the day he made history in Jersey City.
'I think there was some (comments from the crowd),' said Miggins, who had two brief stints in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1948 and 1952 during his 9-year career. 'There probably was. But in those days all the infielders were talking all the time. We were always saying things and you weren't paying attention to anything else.'
Even with a new movie '42' now out in theaters, the retirement of his number by Major League Baseball and a day -- April 15 -- in his honor, Miggins believes Robinson's achievements and what he endured are still not fully appreciated.
'He was a loner, he had to be a loner, and he faced all this by himself,' Miggins said. 'He had to go to towns where there were strangers who would meet him and take him to a black hotel or someone's house. He was an unusual guy to put up with all that stuff.'
The Montreal Royals trounced the Jersey City Giants, 14-1, in that historic Jersey City game in front of a crowd more than twice the size of what the stadium was intended to hold. Robinson went 4-for-5, with four runs scored, a home run, four RBI and two stolen bases.
