IN THE TIME OF NO BUTTERFLIES:

On a cool Tuesday at Ebbets Field, 26,623 fans--an estimated 14,000 of whom were black -- came out for the Opening Day festivities, around 5,000 fewer than the team's home opener the year before. The Brooklyn Eagle's Harold C. Burr cited the smallpox scare and the absence of Durocher as reasons that attendance was down, "but everyone knew the real reason," wrote Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. "White Brooklynites were not accustomed to being surrounded by black Brooklynites, and they were not eager to discover how it felt."

Brooklyn borough president John Cashmore threw out the game's first pitch; a photograph (similar to this one) of him greeting Robinson ran in the Eagle, near one of the Dodgers infield that featured second baseman Eddie Stanky with his left arm on Robinson's right shoulder (similar to this)--a sign of acceptance that was hardly universal among the Dodgers. Though teammates such as Ralph Branca and Gene Hermanski shook Robinson's hand upon his arrival in the clubhouse, Georgia-born Dixie Walker, who had spearheaded a petition to keep Robinson off the team, conspicuously turned his head away from the newcomer in the team photo.

Acting manager Clyde Sukeforth, who had scouted Robinson and summoned him to Brooklyn to meet with Rickey and sign his first professional contract on August 28, 1945, wrote Robinson into the lineup's second spot. He would face lefty Johnny Sain, renowned for one of the league's nastiest curveballs and coming off a 20-14, 2.21 ERA season. Asked by an Associated Press reporter before the game whether he had any butterflies in his stomach, Robinson replied, "Not a one. I wish I could say I did because then maybe I'd have an alibi if I don't do so good." In the stands, an underdressed Rachel Robinson and son Jackie Jr. tried to keep warm, with an assist from the mother-in-law of future Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, who placed the boy inside her fur coat.

"Jackie is very definitely brunette," said Mississippi-born radio announcer Red Barber as Robinson and the rest of the Dodgers took the field behind lefty starter Joe Hatten, who quickly induced Braves leadoff hitter Dick Culler to ground to third baseman Spider Jorgenson, who was also making his big league debut.

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