Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day every year on April 15. That was the day in 1947 when Robinson, playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke the Majors' color barrier. In so doing, he changed the sport and society with it.

Yet the legend of Robinson is so colossal that it continues to grow in depth and breadth. And there is another epochal date that deserves to be remembered for its rich significance to Robinson and the game of baseball.

It was on Aug. 28, 1945 -- 80 years ago today -- when Dodgers president and general manager Branch Rickey informed Robinson of the organization's monumental decision to make him the face of integration -- and warned him of the pressures and pitfalls that lay ahead.

It was also the date of the March on Washington in 1963, whe

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