The universally recognized and celebrated defining moment in Jackie Robinson’s life is the moment that he stepped to the batter’s plate at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn on April 15, 1947. That Robinson attained immortality by breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. The annual rite of sports passage in the decades since is to mark the opening day of the baseball season with glowing tributes, remembrances, and much pageantry about the day, Robinson, and how it and he changed sports forever.

Writer-director Brian Helgeland delivers his best movie with “42,” a sharp, earnest tale about Jackie Robinson’s contributions to Major League Baseball. Although Robinson was an outstanding player who appeared in six consecutive All-Star Games, he is best remembered as the man who broke the color barrier. In “42,” Helgeland deftly tells the story of Robinson’s signing, as well as the pressure both he and Rickey faced once the color barrier was broken. 

While the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 has become a certified success, attracting a diverse audience on its way to becoming No. 1 at the box office during its opening weekend, black Americans are still facing barriers to the baseball field. The opening of 42 occurred several days before the annual celebration of Jackie Robinson Day -- April 15, the day Robinson officially broke the color barrier -- when every baseball player, manager, coach and umpire in Major League Baseball sports his number, 42. But in recent decades, the number of African-American players has decreased with each passing year.