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Death threats, a boycott warning and an awkward photo op: Remembering Jackie Robinson’s Philly debut 75 years ago

On May 9, 1947, Jackie Robinson played a major-league game outside of New York for the first time. And it included an experience he called "one of the most difficult things I had to make myself do.”

Jackie Robinson made his first out of town road trip with the Brooklyn Dodgers to Philadelphia on May 9, 1947. The clippings are from various newspapers about that trip - the refusal by the Benjamin Franklin Hotel to let him stay, the death threats, and ongoing issues with Manager Ben Chapman and the Phillies. The iconic action shot is an AP photograph during a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, May 17, 1949.
Jackie Robinson made his first out of town road trip with the Brooklyn Dodgers to Philadelphia on May 9, 1947. The clippings are from various newspapers about that trip - the refusal by the Benjamin Franklin Hotel to let him stay, the death threats, and ongoing issues with Manager Ben Chapman and the Phillies. The iconic action shot is an AP photograph during a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, May 17, 1949.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer