There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
Jackie RobinsonRead
In my opinion, baseball is as big a business as anything there is. It has to be a business, the way it is conducted.
Interpretation
Jackie Robinson suggests that baseball operates like any major business, emphasizing its commercial aspects.
In this quote, Jackie Robinson reflects on the commercialization of baseball, arguing that the sport functions on the same level as other significant industries. He highlights the organizational and financial structures that govern baseball, indicating that its management and operations prioritize business principles, impacting the way the game is perceived and played.
In practice
During a sports management class, to illustrate the financial aspects of athletics.
There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.
My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people's kids than I did my own.
I had no future with the Dodgers, because I was too closely identified with Branch Rickey. After the club was taken over by Walter O'Malley, you couldn't even mention Mr. Rickey's name in front of him. I considered Mr. Rickey the greatest human being I had ever known.
The colonel replied that he didn't care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.
When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.
Tennis is mostly mental. Of course, you must have a lot of physical skill, but you can't play tennis well and not be a good thinker. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.
You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.
In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball's different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There's a lot of great individual talent.
Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.
It makes great conversation to discuss what's wrong with open-wheel racing today.
I've always wanted to shoot a good percentage for my team, because I'm the point guard, and I can take fewer shots, still score more, so that I can get my teammates feeling good about themselves. That was always my feeling - that if I shoot a high percentage, I don't have to shoot a ton.
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