On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto the grass at Ebbets Field with number 42 on his back and the eyes of the world upon him. Before he took his first swing he’d already made history, crossing baseball’s “color line” and changing the game forever. In 10 years as a player, he’d rack up a .313 batting average, 972 runs scored, 1,563 hits, and 200 stolen bases.  But the true measure of his greatness goes far beyond the baseball diamond. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself said “Jackie Robinson made my success possible. Without him, I would never have been able to do what I did.” Today, we join with all of Major League Baseball and fans worldwide to pay tribute to number 42 — to his courage, his character, his toughness, and all that he accomplished on and off the field.