There’s a great story at The Undefeated: https://theundefeated.com/features/a-handshake-from-a-white-teammate-signaled-jackie-robinsons-arrival-in-americas-game/
Jackie Robinson’s first homer for the Montreal Royals came in their season opener on April 18, 1946. As he came across the plate, his white teammate, George Shuba, the next batter, smile, congratulated him, and shook his hand. It was a simple, natural gesture…and it was huge. Shuba later used a photo of the moment to teach his son to treat everyone equal.
Cap tip to George Shuba, being a decent human being is an excellent legacy.
Fan Interference 
No disrespect to Jackie Robinson! However, I want to direct your attention to a terrific story on MLB.com, “Fernandomania still resonates decades later” and the encapsulation of the terrific 1980 season of the one and only Fernando Valenzuela. It opens up with the outrageously great start of an unforgettable season. I was reading it on my phone at work and people kept coming in asking me what had me so excited. The only guy who has the years to understand is Italian – didn’t come to the U.S. until his forties, so even the baseball fans on the crew look at Fernando the way they do The Babe or Johnny Bench, “Oh yeah, he was great wasn’t he?”
My loudest reaction was to this sentence: “At that point, Valenzuela was 5-0 with a 0.20 ERA, and everyone wanted to know when Fernando was going to pitch again.”
The article is a little excessive with the hyperbole, about Fernando uniting the SoCal and opening racial barriers. But it is accurate that many – and I mean MANY – casual fans paid closer attention to the Dodgers and especially to Fernando. His extraordinary success, his everyman demeanor, his mystery to the traditional audience (interviews were done with an interpreter), and his attraction to a new audience, Latinos, that the Dodgers had not drawn in great numbers previously. Take a look!
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