Now batting ... # 42 - Jackie Robinson

In 1945, Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League for a salary of $400 per month. In his one and only season in the Negro Leagues, he batted .387 and appeared in the league’s All-Star Game. Later in that same year, Brooklyn Dodgers’ President and General Manager Branch Rickey, who had been scouting the Negro Leagues for talent, signed Robinson to a contract to play for the Dodgers’ International League affiliate in Montreal for the 1946 season. Of course, just one year after playing for Montreal, Jackie Robinson broke the Major League’s color barrier when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.