NEW YORK, N,Y, - When all the players, coaches and umpires who compose the rosters of Major League Baseball take the field of various stadiums across the country tomorrow, each wearing the No. 42, they will do so honoring both a man and an event. By doing so, they once again solidify the historic impact upon both sports and American history that Jackie Robinson, the man with whom that number is eternally linked, made upon not just America’s pastime, but her conscience as well.

Indeed, there are many throughout baseball history who are identified as “Icons”. But no one, not even Babe Ruth himself, made the impact through the game of baseball that Robinson did upon America itself as he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers that  day 62 years ago on April 15th, 1947.

"When Jack stepped foot on the field on April 15, 1947, and broke the color barrier in baseball, he became a catalyst for social change in America," Rachel Robinson, the baseball legend’s widow said.

When then Brooklyn Dodger’s General Manager Branch Rickey signed Robinson to a major league contract and added him to the Dodger’s roster in ’47, he  and Robinson forced America to begin to adapt it’s national conscience to a new way of looking at America and it’s views on race. It was a move that had been too long in coming and a move that squarely put the impetus on change, not just for baseball, but for America itself.

For their part, Rickey and Robinson knew that the line they were about to cross was to influence more than the game itself. But they knew that it had to begin somewhere and it might as well be in baseball.

"Jackie, we've got no army. There's virtually nobody on our side. No owner, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I'm afraid that many fans may be hostile. We'll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I am doing this because you're a great ballplayer, and a fine gentleman." Rickey is quoted as saying to Robinson when he signed him.

Robinson, the quintessential man he was, answered the call without hesitation knowing full well that what he was about to do was more than just play baseball at another level. In fact, baseball was not the main factor in his thinking at the time. “If Mr. Rickey hadn't signed me, I wouldn't have played another year in the black league. It was too difficult. The travel was brutal. Financially, there was no reward. It took everything you make to live off.", Robinson would say long after his career was over.

Yet, Robinson realized that if the color barrier in baseball was ever to be broken, he had to take the opportunity offered to him at the time by Rickey. It was an opportunity that most Negro League players had ever doubted would come. Whether or not American society was ready for such a move was not the question – Robinson and all of his negro league peers knew what reception was waiting for the first to break the barrier. But the question was in how long before the opportunity came. When it came, Robinson answered the call.

"He knew he had to do well. He knew that the future of blacks in baseball depended on it. The pressure was enormous, overwhelming, and unbearable at times. I don't know how he held up. I know I never could have.” said Dodger great Duke Snider.

After Robinson had complimented a young Mickey Mantle on his World Series play after having replaced Joe DiMaggio, Mantle gained immediate respect for the Dodger second baseman. “I have to admit, I became a Jackie Robinson fan on the spot. Here was a player who had without doubt suffered more abuse and more taunts and more hatred than any player in the history of the game. And he had made a special effort to compliment and encourage a young white kid from Oklahoma.” said Mantle. “That was an effort I could not have made at that point in my career.”

Indeed, many of the negro league players who later were able to cross the barrier, and many black players, including future Hall of Famers who would not have to endure what Robinson did, realized the sacrifices this man made. "All of us had to wait for Jackie Robinson” said fellow Negro League contemporary pitcher Joe Black.  "Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson” said Willie Mays.

"He led America by example. He reminded our people of what was right and he reminded them of what was wrong. I think it can be safely said today that Jackie Robinson made the United States a better nation." said then American League President Gene Budig

Even modern day politicians have realized the impact of Robinson’s life and career on American society. "He struck a mighty blow for equality, freedom and the American way of life. Jackie Robinson was a good citizen, a great man, and a true American champion." said then President Ronald Reagan of Robinson in the early 1980’s. And American Civil Rights leader and politician Jesse Jackson said of Robinson earlier this decade. "He was a therapist for the masses by succeeding, by doing it with such style, flair and drama. He helped level baseball off, to make it truly a game for black and white, with excellence the only test for success."

But Robinson was more than just a token symbol. He was a true great of the game who played the game not as a black role player but as one of the game’s all-time great players.

“He was the greatest competitor I've ever seen. I've seen him beat a team with his bat, his ball, his glove, (and) his feet” said Snider of Robinson. “Jackie Robinson was the best athlete ever to play Major League Baseball." said former Tigers great Ralph Kiner.

"There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than Robinson” said Rickey.

Jackie’s play on the field was more than just good. He won the very first Rookie of the Year award ever given in 1947. He was a career .311 hitter who played Major League Ball for ten seasons. But in those ten seasons, he led the Brooklyn Dodgers to six pennants and one World Series Championship. Two years after his breakthrough to the major leagues, in 1949 Robinson not only led the National League in stolen bases and won the NL Batting Title but was named to his first of six All-Star Games and was named the years Most Valuable Player. He led all National League second basemen in double plays for four consecutive years fro 1949 through 1952. He also led the NL in stolen bases in 1952. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1962 in his first year of eligibility.

Perhaps no more fitting tributes were given to Robinson posthumously than that given in 1982 when he became the first major leaguer to have his picture appear on a U.S. Postage Stamp and in 1997 when he became the only player in the history of the game to have his number retired by every major league team.

Robinson was a true American icon whose sense of duty and responsibility to society far outweighed his contributions, great through they were, to the game of baseball. “Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life." Robinson was quoted as saying. But he would also add “The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time. There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free."

A very noble sentiment from one of the most noble of American icons. Not an American sports icon… an American Icon.

"Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player who could have done what he did. To be able to hit with everybody yelling at him. He had to block all that out, block out everything but this ball that is coming in at a hundred miles an hour. To do what he did has got to be the most tremendous thing I've ever seen in sports." said Reese.

Robinson was more than just a baseball player. He was a model for society. One whose sacrifice and achievement serves more now than ever as an enduring symbol of America at it’s finest.