On this date in 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey held his famous three-hour meeting with Jackie Robinson. It was the meeting in which Rickey attempted to incite the 26-year-old future Hall of Famer, which he succeeded in doing – although only verbally.

Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial animus that he would receive from fans and other players without taking the bait and reacting angrily – a concern, given Robinson’s prior run-ins with the law while attending Pasadena City College and while in the military.

Robinson angrily replied “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” To which Rickey uttered the famous words that he needed a Negro player “with guts enough not to fight back,” and someone who could “turn the other cheek” to racial antagonism.

Robinson assured Rickey that he could do so and the Dodgers general manager agreed to sign him to a $600 a month contract (which would be the equivalent to $7,860 today).

Rickey insisted that Robinson tell no one of the agreement until a formal contract was signed (scheduled for November 1, 1945), but the signing actually took place a week earlier on October 25 and a public announcement was made that same day.

Although Robinson signed his first professional contract on October 25, 1945, his famous meeting with Branch Rickey in which he agreed to the signing took place on August 28, 1945. (Pictured L to R: Royals president Hector Racine, Dodgers GM Branch Rickey Jr., Robinson and Royals vice president J. Romero Gauvreau). (AP photo)

The rest, as they say, is history.