The first year in which Major League Baseball offered its Rookie of the Year Award was 1947 (at that time there was only one award for both the National and American Leagues). Coincidentally, it was in that same year, on April 15, Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American Major League Baseball player. He went on to hit .297, lead the National League in stolen bases, and win the Rookie of the Year Award. Branch Rickey‘s gamble had paid off.