50+ Jackie Robinson Quotes On Racism. Did you experience much in the way of racial discrimination growing up? Major league baseball opens today, and few are likely to give race a thought. Jackie robinson was the first black baseball player to play in the american major league during the 20th century. Plenty of times i wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but i had to hold to myself. You just didn't expect us to have a chance to do anything. Rachel robinson, the wife of major league baseball pioneer jackie robinson,. And one of the quotations in it would be life changing: For many years, even after jackie robinson, baseball was so segregated, really. When jackie robinson integrated mlb in 1947, . He argued that black players did not want to play in the major leagues and that mixing blacks and whites on the field would result in race riots .