To celebrate Jackie Robinson Day—marking the day when, in 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier in professional baseball—the Nonesuch Journal revisits Natalie Cole's performance of "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?," off the original soundtrack recording to Ken Burns's landmark 1994 documentary Baseball. Listen to the track here.
It was 66 years ago today, on April 15, 1947, that Jackie Robinson made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier in professional baseball. To celebrate this historic occasion—now known as Jackie Robinson Day—the Nonesuch Journal revisits Natalie Cole's performance of "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?," off the original soundtrack recording to Ken Burns's landmark 1994 documentary Baseball, first released in September of that year on Nonesuch Records. You can listen to the tune below.
In addition to the track below, the Baseball soundtrack features music by Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby, Branford Marsalis, and Carly Simon, as well as vintage recordings, historic radio calls, and the solo piano playing of Jacqueline Schwab, including "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "Hurrah for the National Game."
In 2010, the soundtrack was made available again to mark the premiere of The Tenth Inning, a four-hour documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that picks up where the 1994 series left off.
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