Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson is seen here dashing back to first base to avoid being picked off at Ponce de Leon Park, just across from the Sears building on Ponce de Leon Avenue. The occasion was a 1949 exhibition game pitting the home team (the Atlanta Crackers) against the visiting major leaguers, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Two years earlier, Robinson made history by becoming the first black player to appear in a major league game. Robinson was actually a Georgia native, born in Cairo in 1919, though his family relocated to Pasadena, California the following year.

The Dodgers and Crackers played a 3 game series, culminating in a final match up before a standing room only crowd of 25,000 spectators. Image courtesy of the LIFE photo archives.