April 15, 1947, stands as an important date in baseball history and in American history, and every year on April 15, Major League Baseball and teams at every level of play celebrate Jackie Robinson Day to mark the anniversary of Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But relatively few fans know the importance of another date 362 days earlier. On April 18, 1946, Robinson debuted for the Montreal Royals -- Brooklyn's Triple-A affiliate in the International League. In doing so, he not only set the stage for ending segregation in the AL/NL the following year but also began the integration of Minor League Baseball.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Robinson's time with Montreal -- his only season in the Minors. Looking at his numbers from that year, it's hard to reach any other conclusion than Jackie Robinson was ready for the big leagues well before the big leagues were ready for Jackie Robinson.
That might have been evident from that very first game. Batting second for Montreal at Jersey City on Opening Day -- April 18 -- he went 4-for-5 with a home run, two stolen bases, four RBIs and four runs scored pacing the Royals to a 14-1 rout of the Triple-A Giants.
All of Robinson's trademark skills were on display that day. Two of his hits came on bunts. He laid down the first of those in the fifth inning, and he followed it with a swipe of second and advanced to third on a groundout. He didn't steal home perhaps only because he didn't need to -- his dancing off the third-base bag provoked the Jersey City pitcher to balk the run in.
Jackie Robinson Day coverage presented by Capital One
• How MLB is commemorating Jackie Robinson Day
• On this annual day of celebration, 'We Are Jackie'
• Top 10 Jackie Robinson Day moments
• A few words from Jackie inspired this former MLB star for life
• 10 significant moments from Jackie's life
• How Jackie's on-field dominance helped lead him to Hall
• Why does Jackie have two Hall of Fame plaques?
• This is what it was like to wear No. 42 every day
• Each club's last player to wear the iconic No. 42
• Robinson Foundation Scholars reinvigorated by visit to MLB HQ
Representative as that performance was of his whole season in the International League -- maybe even of his whole career -- it was just one game of 124 the 27-year-old Robinson played for the Royals. His entire '46 campaign deserves to be remembered and celebrated.
Fortunately, fans can check out what Robinson was up to every single day of it and get a peek at photos, videos and more with "A look back at Jackie Robinson's 1946 season with Montreal" -- a web page dedicated to perhaps the most significant year in Minor League Baseball history.