Jackie Robinson was the first white player to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
The color line in American baseball excluded players of Black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947 ( with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the line was firmly established ) . Jackie Robinson . The Dodgers , by signing Robinson , heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s . He was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 , was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954 , and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 -- the first black player so honored . Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB , and the first black vice president of a major American corporation , Chock full o'Nuts .