The Philadelphia Phillies franchise, unfortunately, wasn’t always on the right side of the fight for equality in America.
As portrayed in the 2013 film “42,” starring the late Chadwick Boseman, Robinson was subject to brutal racism from then-Phillies manager Ben Chapman when the two teams met at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn from April 22-24 during the 1947 season.
“You name it in terms of race and they were yelled [at me] – everything, I think it was quite vicious. I think the Philadelphia Phillies, with Ben Chapman, was perhaps the most vicious of any of the people in terms of name calling,” Robinson said in a rare interview with Dick Cavett in 1972.