It's Jackie Robinson Day!

For most Americans, April 15 is dreaded tax day. Beware the ides of April. It's time to render unto Caesar (aka the IRS) the things that are Caesar's (aka your hard-earned money). But for baseball lovers such as myself, April 15 is much more. April 15th is Jackie Robinson Day. It is a chance to celebrate the life and legacy of the great Jackie Robinson. Today is the 65th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier.

April 15, 1947 came at a time soon after Americans had survived the Great Depression and won World War II. But even though black people stood in the same soup lines during the Great Depression and fought on the same battlefields in World War II, they were still denied the same freedoms as the white man. Jackie Robinson helped change that. Robinson opened the door to the Civil Rights Movement.

When every Major League player puts on a jersey with the Number 42 on it today, remember Jackie Robinson for more than just a .311 career hitter. Remember Jackie for being a man who grew up fighting for his rights but soon changed into a man with the dignity not to fight back.

When Robinson stepped onto the grass of Ebbets Field on that beautiful Tuesday afternoon, he was not greeted with cheers and praise but rather jeers and insults. Robinson was the target of hatred and discrimination. That was nothing new to Robinson though. While serving in the U.S. Army, he refused an order to move to the back of an Army bus and was unjustly court-marshaled. He was charged with many offenses, one of them public drunkenness even though he didn't drink. Through everything he faced, Robinson always stood up for what was right.

It was clear that Robinson would not rest until he saw America live up to its great ideals of equality. He saw any place that had inequality and discrimination as a threat to freedom everywhere. So he came to fight about policies from Ethiopia to Brooklyn. Robinson did not stand through his discrimination alone. Brooklyn shortstop Pee Wee Reese said: "You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." When fans in Cincinnati shouted racial slurs at Robinson, Reese put his arm around his friend to show his support.

"Jackie Robinson's contributions were far beyond the baseball field," said Michael Young, who plays on a Texas Rangers team with a black manager. "Obviously, this is where it started, but I think everybody in American society owes a huge debt of gratitude to the contributions Jackie Robinson made."

So as you watch Major League Baseball today and see all of baseball celebrate the life of Jackie Robinson, remember him for who he was as a person. Remember the way he carried himself and the way he effected the lives of others. He was more than a .311 hitter and a World Series Champion. He started the Civil Rights Movement which changed America forever. Jackie Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."