10 things you may not know about Jackie Robinson

When he retired at the end of the 1956 season, three major league teams had yet to integrate their clubhouses. The Philadelphia Phillies integrated in 1957 with John Kennedy, the Detroit Tigers integrated in 1958 with Ozzie Virgil, and the Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate when they signed Pumpsie Green in 1959. (AP Photo)

In 1945 the Boston Red Sox offered Jackie Robinson and two other African-American players a fake try-out. The invitation to try-out was a result of Boston city councilor Isadore Muchnick pressuring both the Red Sox and the then Boston Braves to give opportunities to Negro League players or risk losing the Blue Laws waiver that allowed the clubs to play Sunday games. During the Red Sox try-out, all three players were allegedly taunted and called names, prompting them to leave after ninety minutes, skipping their try-out with the Braves. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Jackie Robinson campaigned for Richard Nixon in 1960 when he ran against John F. Kennedy. He also worked for former Republican governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)

Jackie Robinson was not the first African-American to play professional baseball. Catcher Moses Fleetwood Walker played the 1884 season with Toledos American Association team, the Blue Stockings. His brother Weldy played briefly for Toledo at the end of the season. (Photo Courtesy: Ball State University)

Jackie Robinson became vice president of Chock Full ONuts in 1957 and served as VP for ten years. He was the first black vice president of a major American corporation. (Photo Reproduction by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

He was the first black athlete to appear on the childrens television show Sesame Street during its first season in 1970. Robinson also appeared during the second season. (Photo Courtesy: Sesame Street)

He was the subject of a 1949 Top 15 song entitled Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball, by Buddy Johnson and Count Basie.

Following his retirement from baseball, Robinson (pictured here with Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey) wrote a newspaper column for the New York Post and the Amsterdam News. The column provided readers with social commentary as well as personal experiences on and off the baseball field. (File Photo)

Jackie Robinson received the first ever Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year award in 1947.

42 isnt the first Jackie Robinson film to hit the big screen. Robinson played himself in the 1950 biopic, The Jackie Robinson Story.

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Today, April 15, the legacy of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player to integratethe national pastime in the 20th century, is being commemorated by Major League Baseball.

Tocelebrate the occasion theGrio put together a list of 10 things you may not know about Jackie Robinson.

Every Major League Baseballplayer will don Robinsons number, 42,marking the 67th anniversary of the Hall of Famer breaking baseballs color barrier.

Families of both Robinson and the late Nelson Mandela will be at Yankee Stadium today paying tribute to the legend.

Click through the slideshow to see some of the lesser known facts about Robinson.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.

Source: http://thegrio.com/2014/04/15/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-jackie-robinson/