When Edgar Renteria lined a soft single past Charles Nagy, between Tony Fernandez and Omar Vizquel, and in front of Marquis Grissom, to give the Florida Marlins their first World Series Championship recently, keen observers could easily see just how multi-national the National Pastime had become; these developments can be traced directly back to Jackie Robinson. The Library of Congress has introduced a new site to its growing American Memory collection, which contains, at its heart, an illustrated 100 year timeline: Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie Robinson, 1860s-1960s. Accompanied by over 30 images from the Library's collection, the timeline narrative discusses the drawing of the color line, the Negro Leagues, the breaking of the color line, and Robinson himself, both as a player and as a civil rights activist. The highlight of the site at this time is a full text game program (each page is a separate image) from a Kansas City Monarchs vs. Indianapolis Clowns contest in 1954 (under the 1900-1930 section of the timeline). A selected bibliography is also provided and an archive of early baseball pictures (1860s to 1920s) is forthcoming.
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