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Royal Treatment: Jackie Robinson, Montreal, and the Breaking of Baseball's Color Barrier
The story of Jackie Robinson’s prodigious talent, his courageous journey, and his influence on both the game of baseball and American society writ large has been told well and often. What hasn’t been told is the full story of his first season in the minor leagues in Montreal. In 1946, before moving up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson spent a season thrilling home crowds in a Canadian city with Major League aspirations. He played for the AAA Montreal Royals of the International League, leading the team to victory in the Junior World Series.
As it turned out, postwar Montreal was the ideal location for Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey’s “great experiment” to finally integrate America’s pastime. Although both Rickey and Robinson have rightly been at the center stage of this story, it was the masses of cheering Montrealers who first showed the world that professional baseball was ready to bury race-based segregation. As Robinson told a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter years later, “Had it not been for the fact that we broke in in Montreal, I doubt seriously if we would have made the grade so rapidly. The fans were just fantastic, and my wife and I had nothing but the greatest of memories.”
In Royal Treatment Sean J. McLaughlin explores Robinson’s experience in Canada as a Minor Leaguer and the warm embrace he received from Montrealers well before he became one of baseball’s household names. Bringing the early fan experience of Robinson directly to the foreground, Royal Treatment is an intimate look at a pivotal juncture in Robinson’s career, and the overwhelmingly positive relationship he had with the community that supported his rise to fame. This baseball story centers Robinson within the context of the Black American expatriate experience in Montreal in the postwar era.
As it turned out, postwar Montreal was the ideal location for Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey’s “great experiment” to finally integrate America’s pastime. Although both Rickey and Robinson have rightly been at the center stage of this story, it was the masses of cheering Montrealers who first showed the world that professional baseball was ready to bury race-based segregation. As Robinson told a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter years later, “Had it not been for the fact that we broke in in Montreal, I doubt seriously if we would have made the grade so rapidly. The fans were just fantastic, and my wife and I had nothing but the greatest of memories.”
In Royal Treatment Sean J. McLaughlin explores Robinson’s experience in Canada as a Minor Leaguer and the warm embrace he received from Montrealers well before he became one of baseball’s household names. Bringing the early fan experience of Robinson directly to the foreground, Royal Treatment is an intimate look at a pivotal juncture in Robinson’s career, and the overwhelmingly positive relationship he had with the community that supported his rise to fame. This baseball story centers Robinson within the context of the Black American expatriate experience in Montreal in the postwar era.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2026
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May 6, 2026
When Jackie Robinson spent the 1946 baseball season with the Montreal Royals, it was part of the plan by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey to integrate Major League Baseball. This was done not because Robinson needed the year at the Dodgers’ top farm club to work on his baseball skills. It was done to prepare him for what he might face as the game’s first Black player. How Robinson and his wife Rachel fared in Montreal and how the city treated him is the main focus of this book by Sean J. McLaughlin.
The book isn’t all baseball, all the Robinsons or all Montreal. McLaughlin does a very good job of weaving the topics together in a way that it doesn’t get too bogged down in one topic. While that’s a strength of the book, there are also good chunks of the book, several pages long, about subjects that are really only peripherally relevant to the main subject of Robinson. Two examples of this are the lengthy sections on Canadian racial history and a later description of the same thing for the city of Louisville, who was Montreal’s opponent in the 1946 Junior World Series.
While these subjects may not have been directly related to the Jackie Robinson story, when McLaughlin concentrated on Robinson, the city and citizens of Montreal, or the action on the field during Royals games, the writing is great. It’s clear, full of important details, and makes the reader feel like they are in a time warp and takes them back to post-World War II Canada. I especially enjoyed reading about the warm reception that the Robinson received in Montreal, whether it was in their neighborhood or enthusiastic baseball fans cheering the soon-to-be Dodger on.
This step of the Jackie Robinson story is one that is often passed or glossed over and this book finally gives it the recognition it deserves. No matter what the checkered history of racial relations may be in both the United States or Canada may be, this book shows that even that may be pushed aside when a talented player can make an entire city cheer.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book. The views expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The book isn’t all baseball, all the Robinsons or all Montreal. McLaughlin does a very good job of weaving the topics together in a way that it doesn’t get too bogged down in one topic. While that’s a strength of the book, there are also good chunks of the book, several pages long, about subjects that are really only peripherally relevant to the main subject of Robinson. Two examples of this are the lengthy sections on Canadian racial history and a later description of the same thing for the city of Louisville, who was Montreal’s opponent in the 1946 Junior World Series.
While these subjects may not have been directly related to the Jackie Robinson story, when McLaughlin concentrated on Robinson, the city and citizens of Montreal, or the action on the field during Royals games, the writing is great. It’s clear, full of important details, and makes the reader feel like they are in a time warp and takes them back to post-World War II Canada. I especially enjoyed reading about the warm reception that the Robinson received in Montreal, whether it was in their neighborhood or enthusiastic baseball fans cheering the soon-to-be Dodger on.
This step of the Jackie Robinson story is one that is often passed or glossed over and this book finally gives it the recognition it deserves. No matter what the checkered history of racial relations may be in both the United States or Canada may be, this book shows that even that may be pushed aside when a talented player can make an entire city cheer.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book. The views expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review