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 . Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15 , 1947 . 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 .