This Week's Game To Catch: Jackie Robinson Day

Tuesday, 4/15 vs Blue Jays at 7:10

Tuesday night, the Twins not only play the Blue Jays but celebrate the life and impact of Jackie Robinson. It’s suitable that a Minnesota team plays a Canadian team on this celebration, since both areas played key roles in baseball’s integration and supported to the rise of three African-American superstars, only two of which were baseball players.

When Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers owner, signed Jackie Robinson, the Dodgers has two AAA clubs to which Robinson could report for the 1946 season: the Montreal Royals or the St. Paul Saints. He chose the Royals, believing that the American Association wasn't ready for an African-American player. But two years later, that barrier was broken too, by the Saints and Roy Campanella.

Covering Campanella that year was Carl Rowan, an African-American journalist who had recently received a degree from the University of Minnesota. Rowan covered the team for the Minneapolis Spokesman, an African-American newspaper, including Campanella’s promotion to the majors in June, writing “the Saintly City’s baseball fans weren't the least bit happy about it. Although the fans admitted they disliked the move, many paused to say that they wished Campy a lot of luck in the big show.”