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The 70-year-old baseball with a place in American cultural history

25 January 2019

A yellowing baseball covered in blue inky scrawls may not look like an item of importance, but this ball represents an important era in American cultural history.

And, as revealed on the Antiques Roadshow, the story behind it is almost as extraordinary as the ball itself.

A Scottish Baseball Fan

John Foster hears the extraordinary story of the Scotsman who befriended the Brooklyn Dod

In 1952, a sports-mad Scotsman wrote to American baseball team the Brooklyn Dodgers asking if they might send him a rule book and information about the team.

The young Scot welcomed by the Dodgers on arrival in New York

Instead, the Dodgers invited him to join them in New York for a week.

Among the memorabilia he acquired there was the baseball, signed by the Dodgers’ players — including Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League baseball.

Robinson faced incredible discrimination when he stepped out for the Dodgers, but he played with them for almost 10 years, opening the door for other black players.

Jackie Robinson changed the face of American sport. The 28-year-old from Cairo, Georgia, became the first black man ever to play Major League baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Despite his extraordinary talent, Robinson’s presence on the team upset many. Some fans swore they’d never watch the team play again; four players complained to the manager about his inclusion. One even asked to be traded to a different team.

Jackie Robinson was inducted into America’s National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, ten years before he died, aged 53.