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Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College

Jackie Robinson was a radical – don't listen to the sanitized version of history

Jackie Robinson addresses civil rights supporters protesting outside the 1964 GOP National Convention. Ted Streshinsky/Corbis via Getty Images

In our new book, “Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America,” Rob Elias and I profile the many iconoclasts, dissenters and mavericks who defied baseball’s and society’s establishment.

But none took as many risks – and had as big an impact – as Jackie Robinson. Though Robinson was a fierce competitor, an outstanding athlete and a deeply religious man, the aspect of his legacy that often gets glossed over is that he was also a radical.

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