Jackie Robinson’s retirement

Rather than accept a trade from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the much-despised, crosstown rival New York Giants, the iconic Jackie Robinson formally announces his retirement 69 years ago today.

In reality, Robinson – closing in on his 38th birthday – already is leaning toward retirement.

Even before the Dodgers trade him to the Giants on Dec. 13, 1956 for journeyman pitcher Dick Littlefield, Robinson accepts an executive role with the New York-based Chock full o’Nuts chain of coffee shops.

“There shouldn’t be any mystery about my reasons (for retiring),” Robinson tells Look magazine in 1957.

“I’m 38 years old with a family to support. I’ve got to think of my future and our security. At my age, a man doesn’t have much future in baseball – and very little security. It’s as simple as that.”

And a matter of practicality, Robinson says back in 1957 – a decade after he becomes the major leagues’ first Black player in the 20th century.

“I’m through with baseball,” he says, “because I know that, in a matter of time, baseball would have been through with me.”

Robinson spends 10 seasons from 1947-56 with Brooklyn, where he leads the Dodgers to six World Series appearances – all against the uptown Yankees.

Robinson also earns the National League’s first Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 and the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, the first of six straight summers in which he represents the Dodgers at the All-Star Game.

All of that, plus his .311 career batting average for the Dodgers, makes Robinson an easy first-ballot selection in 1962 for the Hall of Fame.

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