Saturday, April 13, 2013

Books On Film | 42 (Jackie Robinson)

The biopic 42 hit movie theaters yesterday. The film is about the life of famous baseball player Jackie Robinson, who was the first black player in major league baseball since 1884 and whose recruitment helped end 60 years of segregation in baseball.

The film focuses on Robinson's recruitment by the Brooklyn Dodger's team executive Branch Rickey in 1946, follows him during his successive rookie year on the team, and culminates in the 1947 World Series (the first to be televised) where the Dodgers faced the Yankees.

The movie already has a tie-in novelization book, but I thought a better book to read would be Jackie Robinson's autobiography I Never Had It Made. In the book Robinson chronicles his early life, his college years at UCLA, his time in the army during WWII, and his years as a baseball player for the Negro American Leagues and Major League Baseball.

If you have an interest in baseball or American History then check out the film and the book!

Cover courtesy of LibraryThing

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