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Jackie Robinson played first base in his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947. (AP Photo)

• Jackie Robinson joins the Dodgers: 56k | 300k

Marking the 50th anniversary of baseball's greatest social achievement, President Bill Clinton declared that Jackie Robinson "changed the face of baseball, and the face of America forever."

Both changes were overdue when Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began his "noble experiment." As World War II was about to end, the American military was still segregated. So were public schools, public transportation -- and baseball.

It was 1945 when Rickey quietly began scouting the Negro Leagues, but the foundation was laid 40 years earlier when Rickey was coaching Ohio Wesleyan University and a hotel desk clerk refused to register the lone black player on the team. The player broke down in tears because of the color of his skin.

Rickey vowed that someday he would do something about such injustice. A consummate scout, Rickey also knew baseball was cheating itself by preventing great black athletes from entering the pool of talent. And if those great athletes could help bring an elusive championship to Brooklyn, then Rickey had added incentive to cross the 20th-century color line.