This statue of Jackie Robinson, sculpted by Susan Wagner, was dedicated on February 26, 1998 in Journal Square.
On April 18, 1946, Robinson, a 26-year-old secondbaseman, took the field for the Montreal Royals against the Jersey City Giants, a Class AAA affiliate of the New York Giants, for Opening Day of the International League baseball season, to become the first African American player in the modern era of organized professional baseball. The game took place, appropriately, on a field known as Roosevelt Stadium, which was at the foot of Danforth Avenue at Route 440 in Jersey City, at a spot then known as Droyer's Point. The Giants sold 52,000 tickets for that game--more than double the stadium's seating capacity of 23,000. Booed mercilessly during his first plate appearance, Robinson went on to have four hits including a 3-run homer, with 4 RBI, 4 runs scored, and 2 stolen bases in Montreal's 14-1 rout. A year later, Jackie Robinson would break Major League Baseball's color line, when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.