March 17, 1946 Jackie Robinson finds himself a seat on Montreal’s bench as he joins the Royals for the first time in an exhibition game against their major league affiliate, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The game is played before a packed crowd of 3,100 in Daytona Beach, marking the first appearance of an integrated team in organized baseball since the 1890s.
Robinson spends the 1946 season playing second base in Montreal, where he bats .349 with 113 runs scored and 40 stolen bases.
A year later, Robinson breaks the majors’ color barrier, bringing an aggressiveness to the game unseen since Ty Cobb’s days and embarking on a 10-year career in Brooklyn culminates with his first-ballot election to the Hall of Fame in 1962.
