--- title: Jackie Robinson: Rare and Classic Photos of an American Icon description: Jackie Robinson changed not only the face of professional baseball in America: in ways subtle and profound, he changed the nation itself. canonical: https://time.com/3813840/life-with-jackie-robinson-rare-and-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-04-12T16:25:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:38.841Z og:title: Jackie Robinson: Rare and Classic Photos of an American Icon og:description: Jackie Robinson changed not only the face of professional baseball in America: in ways subtle and profound, he changed the nation itself. og:url: https://time.com/3813840/life-with-jackie-robinson-rare-and-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe7cbecb49a6c93d/6987ea15e20a870ebea88c6f/150406-jackie-robinson-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: JACKIE ROBINSON og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jackie Robinson: Rare and Classic Photos of an American Icon twitter:description: Jackie Robinson changed not only the face of professional baseball in America: in ways subtle and profound, he changed the nation itself. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe7cbecb49a6c93d/6987ea15e20a870ebea88c6f/150406-jackie-robinson-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Jackie Robinson: Rare and Classic Photos of an American Icon by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 12, 2012 4:25 PM UTC  Jackie Robinson, 1950. Jackie Robinson, 1950.J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 12, 2012 4:25 PM UTC When [Jack Roosevelt Robinson](http://www.jackierobinson.com/) stepped onto Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, he not only changed the face of professional baseball in America. In ways subtle and profound — ways that have been debated, dissected and celebrated in books, films, popular songs, academic circles and casual conversations in the long decades since — he changed the nation itself. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, Robinson embarked on an odyssey that brought him renown, respect and, by all accounts, an early death, at 53, from the unimaginable stress he suffered, on and off the field, as the first black player in the major leagues. For most of Jackie Robinson’s long journey, from 1947 Rookie of the Year to prematurely aged Dodgers veteran (his major league career lasted only 10 years), LIFE magazine was there, chronicling his baseball triumphs — including Brooklyn’s only World Series title, in 1955 — and his life and achievements away from the diamond. Here, LIFE.com offers a selection of both classic and, in some cases, rare pictures that paint a portrait of a man whose dignity, competitive fire and grace under pressure set him indelibly and inevitably apart from his peers and his rivals. In 1950, when LIFE covered the filming of the movie version of his life, [_The Jackie Robinson Story_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042609/) (in which Robinson starred, quite winningly, as himself), the magazine explained the man’s appeal, at the time and for coming generations, like this: “Previous baseball heroes — Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Monty Stratton \[played by Jimmy Stewart\] — have had to wait till they were past their prime or dead before movies were made about them, and actors had to be taught laboriously to copy their stances and swings.” --- > “” --- With the movie completed, “Jackie went back to his spring training and started off the new season in his usual style,” LIFE noted, “batting .455 the first week.” Robinson skills on the diamond — and his prodigious athletic gifts in general — were never in question. He was UCLA’s first-ever varsity athlete in _four_ sports (baseball, basketball, football and track) and even though he started his major league career relatively late in life, at 28 years old, he brought an electrifying combination of hard-won discipline and explosive talent to the game that thrilled fans, awed his teammates and consistently rattled opponents. Case in point: One of the most famous of all the pictures ever made of Robinson — in fact, one of the most iconic baseball photographs ever made, period — illustrates not only the man’s intensity and his will to win, but his wonderfully disruptive energy on the base paths. (See slide #6 in this gallery.) Captured by LIFE’s Ralph Morse in Game 3 of the 1955 World Series against the Yankees, the image shows Robinson mischievously working to distract catcher Yogi Berra and rattle pitcher Bob Turley. This picture is almost always described as “Jackie Robinson rounding third base,” but the fact that he is provocatively _dancing off the bag_ actually makes the photograph all the more rousing, and so much more representative of his style of play. Six decades later, Morse’s photograph remains one of the signature portraits of a great athlete at his most intensely, passionately competitive. _This_, the picture tells us, _is the guy you want on your team._ He may not have Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, but the TV talk show host managed to rope in former President Clinton, wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea for a very cool selfie A footnote to that story known to few baseball fans is that, incredibly, Jackie Robinson — after years of battling for a World Series title — did not play in the deciding 7th game in 1955\. He wasn’t a young man anymore, he was coming off his least-productive season as a Dodger (he hit only .256 with 12 stolen bases and eight home runs in 105 games) and manager Walter Alston benched him. Game 7 was the only World Series game the Dodgers played during his entire career in which Jackie Robinson did not take the field. But Dem Bums won it all that year — the one and only time they won the championship in all the years they played in Brooklyn. Finally, though, it was Robinson as both flesh-and-blood man and as a combination of lightning rod, rallying cry and highly publicized symbol that caught the attention, and the admiration, of so many people of every race. “I was in school in Alabama,” [Hank Aaron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank%5FAaron) once told LIFE.com, explaining why Jackie Robinson mattered then, and still matters today, “when I heard that he signed with the Dodgers. I was _so_ happy. I wanted to be a ballplayer, and while I knew that what he was doing was a long way from where I was, I also knew someone had to do it before I could get there.” Seven decades later, everyone who knows anything about baseball — and about America in 1947 — remains humbled by what Jackie Robinson endured, what he risked and, ultimately, what he achieved.  Jackie Robinson, 1950. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson holds his son, Jackie Jr., as he sits with his wife Rachel on the front steps of their home in 1949\. Jackie Jr. struggled with drug addiction as a young man and was killed, at just 24 years old, in a car accident in 1971. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Advertisements for The Jackie Robinson Story from the May 15, 1950, issue of LIFE magazine. LIFE Magazine—May 15, 1950  Jackie Robinson poses for LIFE's Allan Grant during filming of The Jackie Robinson Story, 1950. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hoping to distract Yankee catcher Yogi Berra and disrupt the pitcher, Bob Turley, Jackie Robinson dances off of third base during the third game of the 1955 World Series at Ebbets Field. Brooklyn won, 8-3, and went on to win the Series. (See the introduction to this gallery for photographer Ralph Morse's story of making this iconic photo.) Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson slides into home in 1956. George Sillk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen, Iraq's 17-year-old King Faisal II (invited to the U.S. by President Truman) and Jackie Robinson chat in the Dodger dugout in 1952. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson signs autographs and chats with fans in 1955. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson, displaying the athleticism that defined his play even in the last year of his career, in action during a game against the Giants. 1956. George Sillk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson slashes a base hit during Game 6 of the 1955 World Series. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson rounds first during a game against the Giants in 1956. George Sillk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Aging but still aggressive, Jackie Robinson bluffs for third after stealing second. George Sillk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Daring dash brings Brooklyn's Jackie Robinson charging wildly toward home plate on steal. It came unexpectedly, Yankee catcher Yogi Berra having just told pitcher, 'Don't worry about Robinson. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Yogi Berra takes issue with the umpire's "safe" call after Robinson's electrifying steal of home in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series. Six decades after it was taken, this picture reminds us of what an intense competitor Berra, like Robinson, really was. Today, he's often regarded a cuddly old ambassador for baseball. But back then, when the game was on the line, Yogi Berra was a warrior. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sagging veteran Jackie Robinson rests in the locker room after game which ended second winning streak and prompted \[manager Walter\] Alston to bench Jackie two days later. The Dodgers went on to win Brooklyn's only MLB championship that year, but '55 was Robinson's second-to-last season as a ballplayer. The toll of "being Jackie Robinson" is evident: the great athlete who broke baseball's color line is 36 years old in this shot, but looks a good 20 years older Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3813840/life-with-jackie-robinson-rare-and-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3813840/life-with-jackie-robinson-rare-and-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/"},"headline":"LIFE With Jackie Robinson: Rare and Classic Photos of an American Icon","datePublished":"2012-04-12T16:25:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:38.841Z","description":"Seven decades ago, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Brooklyn's Ebbets Field and changed not only the face of professional baseball in America: in ways subtle and profound, he changed the nation itself.","url":"https://time.com/3813840/life-with-jackie-robinson-rare-and-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/","keywords":["Sports topic","Baseball","photography","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe7cbecb49a6c93d/6987ea15e20a870ebea88c6f/150406-jackie-robinson-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe7cbecb49a6c93d/6987ea15e20a870ebea88c6f/150406-jackie-robinson-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"JACKIE ROBINSON","caption":"Jackie Robinson, 1950.","creditText":"J. 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