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reporter: don, after barry bonds conviction on obstruction, there are some who say the steroids era is the worst scandal in history but actually the biggest stain on the game is when they didn t let african-americans play. all that changed 64 years ago this week. for all these years we ve never known how much of a role faith in god played in shaping that historic moment until now. reporter: branch ricky s di significance to hire jackie robinson as the first african-american baseball player opened doors that changed sports and poll sicks forever. and the details are etched in the memory of ken burns, who did the definitive 18 1/2 hour pbs documentary on baseball. one of the finest moments in all of american history, not just sports history, but american history, when on april 15th, 1947 a black man wearing the number 42 trotted out to ....
Documentary on baseball. one of the finest moments in all of american history, not just sports history, but american history, when on april 15th, 1947 a black man wearing the number 42 trotted out to first base. reporter: we have learned a detail about this historic decision that until now was not known by jackie robinson s widow, branch ricky s grandson, or even ken burns. you have never heard this story. i haven t. this is totally new to me. reporter: it turns out just before signing the contract, ricky secretly slipped into the brooklyn church. he huddled with the pastor woz daughter-in-law is speaking with us for the first time. he started pacing and he wore a groove in the carpet. he went around and around the room for 45 minutes. branch ricky iii says his grandfather was deeply religious. he fretted about taking on the ....
It s been 64 years since jackie robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball. what s been kept quiet up until right now is the roll faith played in the historic decision. here s cnn s ed henry with a secret meeting between a pastor and the brooklyn dodgers top boss. reporter: the decision to hire jackie robinson opened doors that changed sports and politics forever. the details are etched in the memory of ken burns who did the pbs documentary of baseball. one of finest moments of all of american history, when on april 15th, 1947, a black man wearing the number 42 trotted out to first base. reporter: we ve learned a detail about the historic decision that until now was not known by jackie robinson s widow or even ken burns. ....
And april 15th, 1947, jackie robinson took the field as the manager brooklyn dodgers. first base, went 0 for 3. but that s not what we ll remember about that day. remember exactly what he represented. ....
Historic moment until now. branch rickey s decision to hire jackie robinson as the first african-american baseball player opened doors that changed sports and politics forever. and the details are etched in the memory of ken burns who did the definitive 18 and a half hour pbs documentary on baseball. one of the finest moments in all of american history, not just sports history, but american history, when on april 15th, 1947, a black man wearing the number 42 trotted out to first base. reporter: we ve learned a detail about this decision that until now was not known by jackie robinson s widow, branch rickey s grandson or even ken burns. you ve never heard this story? no. reporter: it turns out before signing the contract, rickey slipped into this brooklyn church. the executive huddled with the pastor whose daughter in law is speaking with us about it for the first time. he started pacing. he wore a groove in the carpet. ....