Claim: Jackie Robinson was the first pro athlete to have his uniform number retired.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson -LRB- January 31 , 1919 -- October 24 , 1972 -RRB- was an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball -LRB- MLB -RRB- in the modern era . Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15 , 1947 . The Dodgers , by signing Robinson , heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s . Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 .   Robinson had an exceptional 10-year baseball career . He was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 , was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954 , and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 -- the first black player so honored . Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers ' 1955 World Series championship .   In 1997 , MLB `` universally '' retired his uniform number , 42 , across all major league teams ; he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored . MLB also adopted a new annual tradition , `` Jackie Robinson Day '' , for the first time on April 15 , 2004 , on which every player on every team wears No. 42 .   Robinson 's character , his use of nonviolence , and his unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation which then marked many other aspects of American life . He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement . Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB , and the first black vice president of a major American corporation , Chock full o'Nuts . In the 1960s , he helped establish the Freedom National Bank , an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem , New York . After his death in 1972 , in recognition of his achievements on and off the field , Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom .