42 Quotes

[from trailer]

Ben Chapman: Why don'tcha look in a mirror? This is a white man's game!

[from trailer]

Jackie Robinson: I'm not goin' anywhere! I'm right here!

reporter: Whatcha gonna do if one of these pitchers throws for your head?

Jackie Robinson: I'll duck.

[from trailer]

Branch Rickey: Jackie Robinson. A black man in white baseball.

Jackie Robinson: You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back?

Branch Rickey: No. No. I want a player who's got the guts not to fight back. People aren't gonna like this. They're gonna do anything to get you to react. Echo a curse with a curse and, uh, they'll hear only yours. Follow a blow with a blow and they'll say, "The Negro lost his temper." That "The Negro does not belong." Your enemy will be out in force... and you cannot meet him on his own low ground. We win with hitting, running, fielding. Only that. We win if the world is convinced of two things: That you are a fine gentleman and a great baseball player. Like our Savior... you gotta have the guts... to turn the other cheek. Can you do it?

Jackie Robinson: You give me a uniform... you give me a, heh, number on my back... and I'll give you the guts.

Ben Chapman: Hey, Stanky, what's it like bein' a nigger's nigger?

Eddie Stanky: I dunno, Chapman, what's it like bein' a redneck piece of shit?

Branch Rickey: It's another opening day, Harold. All future, no past.

Harold Parrott: It's a blank page, sir.

Burt Shotton: When I took the Cleveland uniform off two years ago I promised the missus I'd never put on another uniform again. So the roses are beautiful and, uh, I sleep better too.

Branch Rickey: Roses and sleep are two wonderful things, Burt. But sleep you can get when you're in your casket, and flowers look great on top of it. But, uh, you don't look like a dead man to me, Burt.

Branch Rickey: You think God likes baseball, Herb?

Herb Pennock: What - ? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Branch Rickey: It means someday you're gonna meet God, and when he inquires as to why you didn't take the field against Robinson in Philadelphia, and you answer that it's because he was a Negro, it may not be a sufficient reply!

[last lines]

Wendell Smith: [typing his news story] Robinson rounds third, headed for home sweet home.

Jackie Robinson: I don't care if they like me. I didn't come here to make friends. I don't even care if they respect me. I know who I am. I've got enough respect for myself. I do not want them to beat me.

Rachel Robinson: They're never going to beat you.

Jackie Robinson: They... came close today.

[Wendell speeds away from a crowd of threatening white men]

Jackie Robinson: What the hell, Wendell?

Wendell Smith: A man came by while you was asleep. He said more men were coming. It might have been those fellas. Mr. Rickey said to get you to Daytona Beach ASAP.

Jackie Robinson: Why didn't you say so?

Wendell Smith: Well, Mr. Rickey was afraid you wouldn't want to leave. You'd want to stay there and fight.

[Jackie starts laughing]

Wendell Smith: Man, what in the hell are you laughing at?

Jackie Robinson: I thought you woke me because, because I was cut from the team.

Mr. Brock: Well, the wife's inside cookin'. You know what she asked me? She asked me this mornin', "What do you serve when a hero comes to dinner?"

Jackie Robinson: Um, Mr. Brock, I'm just a ball player.

Mr. Brock: Oh no no, you tell that to the little colored boys playin' baseball in Florida today. To them, you a hero.

[after Jackie smashes his bat in the dugout tunnel, Rickey approaches him]

Jackie Robinson: The next white son of a bitch who opens his mouth, I'll smash his goddamn teeth in.

Branch Rickey: You can't, Jackie. You know it.

Jackie Robinson: I'm supposed to let this go on?

Branch Rickey: These men have to live with themselves...

Jackie Robinson: I have to live with myself, too! And right now I'm living a sermon out there.

Branch Rickey: You don't matter right now, Jack. You're in this thing. You don't have the right to pull out from the backing of people who believe in you, respect you and who need you.

Jackie Robinson: Is that so?

Branch Rickey: If you fight, they won't say Chapman forced you to; they'll just say that you're over your head. That you belong where you are.

Jackie Robinson: Do you know what it's like, having someone do this to you?

Branch Rickey: No. No. You do. You're the one living the sermon. In the wilderness. Forty days. All of it. Only you.

Jackie Robinson: And not a damn thing I can do about it.

Branch Rickey: Of course there is! You can stand up and hit! You can get on base and you can score! You can win this game for us! We need you! Everyone needs you.

[the players are moving above]

Jackie Robinson: They're taking the field.

Branch Rickey: Who's playing first?

Jackie Robinson: [beat] I'm gonna need a new bat.