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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.

Rocky Marciano was born in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1923. He was a typical American kid, playing baseball and football and dreaming of playing one professionally. He didn't take up boxing until he was drafted into the Army at the age of twenty. In 1947, he had a tryout with the Chicago Cubs as a catcher, but was let go because he couldn't make the throw from home plate to second base with accuracy. By the spring of 1949, his boxing skills were developing and he had knocked out his first 16 opponents. In 1951, Marciano knocked out his hero, the former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, in the eighth round, establishing him as one of the marquee fighters in the heavyweight division. In 1952, he got the chance to fight for the title against Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia. Marciano knocked him out in the 13th round giving Marciano the championship belt. On April 27, 1956, Marciano retired from boxing. He had held the heavyweight boxing title for four years and is the only boxing champion to ever retire undefeated.