The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

Jackie Robinson: Self

Quotes 

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

• Branch Rickey : 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 : If we succeed, Brooklyn will win a pennant.

  Branch Rickey : 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 : Well, he can run, he can hit, and he can field.

  Branch Rickey : But can he take it?

  Clyde Sukeforth : That I don't know.

  Branch Rickey : What do you think, Jackie?

  Jackie Robinson : Well, I can try.

  Branch Rickey : 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 : 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 : 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 : Good.

• Jackie Robinson : I want to quit college - right after the basketball season.

  Mack Robinson : What for?

  Jackie Robinson : I gotta get a job. I want to marry Rae. School's one thing, but, even Mom can't support Rae too.

  Mack Robinson : Can't it wait till you graduate?

  Jackie Robinson : What good will a degree do me? They're not hiring colored football coaches. Not our color, anyway.

  Mack Robinson : Don't you want to play baseball this season?

  Jackie Robinson : What good will that do me? Baseball's one sport they'll never let me in.

  Mack Robinson : Yeah. It's your best sport too.

• Branch Rickey : You gotta girl, Jackie?

  Jackie Robinson : Well, I don't know.

  Branch Rickey : What do you mean you don't know?

  Jackie Robinson : Traveling around all the time and not writing as often as I should, I think I still have a girl.

  Branch Rickey : Good. You'll need one.

• Jackie's Mother : [on the phone]  Hello, Jackie. You all right? You've got a chance - for what?

  Jackie Robinson : Well, I can be the first negro to ever play in organized baseball, Mom, if I I'm good enough. If I can make the grade.

• Jackie Robinson : I'm a ball player, Reverend. I've just learned that the Brooklyn Dodgers have been scouting negro ball players for a couple of years and Mr. Rickey thinks I'm good enough to - well, Reverend, it just means that a colored man will be able to play on the same field with a white man for the first time.

  Minister : Who goes out to these ballparks, Jackie? Just white men?

  Jackie Robinson : No. Anybody can buy a ticket Reverend, colored or white.

  Minister : Tell me, Jackie, what do you think would actually happen if you were to get out on a white baseball field?

  Jackie Robinson : Well, I don't know? They might call me names. They might even beat me up.

  Minister : I don't mean what would happen to you, Jackie. I mean, what would happen to the colored people?

  Jackie Robinson : Might start fights. Might even start a riot!

  Minister : That's true. On the other hand, every step forward for our people has started a fight somewhere, for the time being, anyhow. This is a big thing you have to decide, Jackie. And not just for you alone. It's a big thing for the whole colored people.

  Jackie Robinson : I know. That's why I came to you for help.

  Minister : A great deal depends upon you, Jackie: what kind of a man you are.

• Branch Rickey : Come on, Jackie, we don't want trouble.

  Jackie Robinson : I'm the cause of the trouble, Mr. Rickey. Maybe you'd like to call it off. Maybe you'd rather I went back to the Panthers.

  Branch Rickey : Not on your life. We started this together, boy, and we'll finish it together. We'll complete the training season and you'll complete it with us.

• Rae Robinson : [massaging Jackie's back]  You're still the best base runner, they can't take that away from you.

  Jackie Robinson : Yeah, but, you can't steal first. Ow! What have you got in those hands? Steel springs?

  Rae Robinson : They're nurses hands, remember?

  Jackie Robinson : Well, they better nurse me out of this slump or Mr. Rickey will be looking for a new boy.

• Jackie Robinson : I know that life in these United States can be mighty tough for people who are a little different from the majority. I'm not fooled because I've had a chance, open to very few negro Americans. But, I do know that democracy works for those who are willing to fight for it and I'm sure it's worth defending. I can't speak for any 50 million people. No one person can. But, I'm certain that I and other Americans of many races and faiths, have too much invested in our country's welfare to throw it away or to let it be taken from us.

• Mack Robinson : More mail again. I bet you spent fifty bucks on stamps!

  Jackie Robinson : If it gets me a job, it'll be worth it!

• Rae Robinson : You know, sometimes when you wait for real good news, you wait forever.

  Jackie Robinson : I guess so.

  Rae Robinson : I don't want to wait forever.

• Jackie Robinson : You marry me now and you're asking for trouble.

  Rae Robinson : All right, Jackie, I'll ask for it.