SEATTLE - Every year on April 15, Major League Baseball spends the entire day celebrating the life of Jackie Robinson, the player who broke through baseball's color barrier and made his debut in the Majors on April 15, 1947.
A celebration that started in 2004, Jackie Robinson Day has been extended league-wide as a way of honoring the person that ended with 80 years of baseball segregation. In 1997, MLB retired Robinson's number throughout the league and in 2009 requested that every player and all on-field personnel wear his legendary No.42 shirt during games scheduled on April 15.
