Question 1

True or false: Jackie Robinson was a four-sport star athlete at UCLA, including football and basketball.

Accepted Answer

True. He lettered in baseball, football, basketball, and track at UCLA, becoming the first athlete there to earn varsity letters in four sports.

Question 2

True or false: Robinson's number 42 was retired across all of Major League Baseball in 1997.

Accepted Answer

True. MLB universally retired number 42 on the 50th anniversary of his debut, though players already wearing it were grandfathered in until 2013.

Question 3

True or false: Jackie Robinson was actually the second Black player in MLB, not the first.

Accepted Answer

False. Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. A few other Black players appeared later that season, but he was the first in the modern era.

Question 4

True or false: Before baseball, Jackie Robinson served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Accepted Answer

True. Robinson was drafted in 1942, served as a second lieutenant, and faced a court-martial for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus—he was acquitted.

Question 5

True or false: Jackie Robinson's first professional baseball team was the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues.

Accepted Answer

True. He played one season with the Monarchs in 1945 before being signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league affiliate in Montreal.

Question 6

True or false: Jackie Robinson was a lifelong Republican who campaigned for Richard Nixon.

Accepted Answer

False. Robinson was a Republican early on but became disillusioned with Nixon and later supported Democrats like Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy.

Question 7

True or false: Robinson once stole home plate in a World Series game, a feat no one has repeated since.

Accepted Answer

False. Robinson did steal home in the 1955 World Series, but other players have done it since; it's rare but not unique.

Question 8

True or false: After retiring, Jackie Robinson co-founded a bank to help Black communities gain access to loans.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1964, he co-founded Freedom National Bank in Harlem, which operated until 1990, providing financial services to underserved communities.

Jackie Robinson Trivia Questions