HOW I FEEL ABOUT APRIL 15TH.

April 15th has always been a big day for me. Its a big day in the hearts of CPA's as the tax filing season is coming to an end and we can get back to a normal life and spend time again with our families.

But April 15th is also the anniversary of when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and played his first game (4/15/1947) in major league baseball as a Brooklyn Dodger. Back in those days, we had two leagues. The major leagues and the negro leagues. The leagues were segregated both in players and in fans.  There were many talented ball players in the negro leagues that could compete in the major leagues. As major league baseball entered the 1947 year, the Brooklyn Dodgers with Branch Rickey decided it was time to integrate an African American into baseball. They chose Jackie Robinson to play for their team.

I always think about how he felt on that day.  The Brooklyn Dodgers played the Boston Braves in front of a crowd of a little over 26,000 people of which 14,000 were African American. He heard racial slurs not only from the stands and the opposing dugout but from some of his teammates as well. Some of them even went to Leo Durocher and said they would not play with a n*****.  The Dodger manager took a stand and told the players that you don't play you don't get paid and will be traded.

The Dodgers won 5-3 with Robinson playing first base. For the remainder of the year, he took all the abuse one person can handle (his contract said he could not retaliate for two years). His courage for that first year is remembered today in baseball. They now require all major league teams to retire his number (42) and many of the African American teams publicly give praise to Jack's courage and fortitude to stick with it and allow them and other African American players to play major league baseball.

After baseball, Jackie participated in many civil rights movements right up until his death in 1972 at age 53. I am glad that we remember Jackie Robinson for his heroic efforts and his work in opening the doors for other African Americans to prosper. Thats what April 15th means to me.