For many of us, Jackie Robinson remains baseball's singular figure, but he also opened the door for Black Americans to participate in other sports, and was a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about inequality. Offering new perspective on a complex man, Kostya Kennedy focuses on four transformative years in Robinson's life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues; 1949, when he won the MVP Award as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his disappointing final season in baseball; and 1972, the year of his untimely death.