I agree. He wasn't just a black baseball player, he was THE black baseball player chosen by Branch Rickey to do the unthinkable. He entered the league at a time when you could "lynch a n****r" for looking at you the wrong way. He was prepped, he was threatened, he was galvanized and he came through as the guy who could do it and do it well. Let's say a hot head broke the color barrier and he jumped into the stands at the first person who threw something at him, it would have set back integration by a decade. Also, if he sucked, he'd have set back integration as the mongrols would have said that blacks couldn't play as well as the white folk. They aren't just celebrating the fact he was the first black ballplayer. They are celebrating the fact that in so many ways, he was the perfect first black baseball player.