The Jackie Robinson Story

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
A box score - you know a box score is really democratic, Jackie. It doesn't say how big you are or how your father voted in the last election or what church you attend. It just tells you what kind of a ballplayer you were that day.

Jackie Robinson:
Well, isn't that what counts?

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
It's all that ought to count, and maybe someday it's all that will count.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
We're tackling something big here, Jackie. If we fail, no one will try it again for twenty years. But if we succeed...

Clyde Sukeforth, Dodger Scout:
If we succeed, Brooklyn will win a pennant.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
Yes, that too. But we're dealing with rights here. The right of any American to play baseball, the American game. You think he's our boy, Clyde?

Clyde Sukeforth, Dodger Scout:
Well, he can run, he can hit, and he can field.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
But can he take it?

Clyde Sukeforth, Dodger Scout:
That I don't know.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
What do you think, Jackie?

Jackie Robinson:
Well, I can try.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
Think you've got guts enough to play the game no matter what happens? They'll shout insults at you. They'll come into you spikes first. They'll throw at your head.

Jackie Robinson:
They've been throwing at my head for a long time, Mr. Rickey.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
Suppose I'm a player in the heat of an important game. Suppose I collide with you at second base and when I get up I say, 'You - you dirty black so-and-so!' What do you do?

Jackie Robinson:
Mr. Rickey, do you want a ballplayer who's afraid to fight back?

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back. You got to do this job with base hits, stolen bases, and fielding ground balls, Jackie. Nothing else! Now I'm playing against you in a World Series and I'm hot-headed. I want to win this game. So I go into you spikes first. You jab the ball in my ribs and the umpire says, 'Out.' I flare. All I can see is your black face - that black face right over me. So I haul off and punch you right in the cheek. What do you do?

Jackie Robinson:
Mr. Rickey, I've got two cheeks.

Branch Rickey, President Brooklyn Dodgers:
Good.

Reporter:
Coach, do you think the public will accept a colored second baseman?

Clay Hopper:
[pauses] Let's wait to see if I do.