Jackie Robinson was the first Black person to play Major League Baseball, making his debut in the spring of 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers at 28 years of age. Wearing number 42, Robinson broke the color barrier in America's cherished pastime sport. Robinson would go on to win the league's Most Valuable Player award only 2 years later, leading in batting average and stolen bases. In addition to playing professional baseball, Jackie Robinson was a champion for civil rights and a pioneer in human dignity, consistently persevering through challenges of racial discrimination both on and off the field. Whereas these memories are the often-remembered tales of Robinson and his associated fame, examining untold stories, including his place of birth and his post-baseball cardiometabolic health, may help us more deeply understand ongoing modern-day atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) inequities, as well as opportunities to develop prevention strategies.
Robinson was born to a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, GA. He experienced a challenging youth in a single-parent household; his mother, Mallie, cared for him and his 4 siblings. Robinson's hometown of Cairo, a rural town with a diverse ethnic composition, includes a considerable prevalence of Black (46%), White (33%), and Hispanic (18%) people.
