The next day, Durocher once again said to the team, "I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich." At the next game, most of the players said "Hi" to Robinson and treated him as a teammate. The thing that was so special about Robinson was that he was the only black player in the entire league, and he had to go through all of this harassment on his own. This represents his true resilience as a person and fighting through just one of many obstacles to become accept in Major League Baseball. Then a newspaper once asked Robinson if he was lonely, he replied, "Yes I am lonely but the game keeps me happy, no matter what else happens. I know I am doing something to help the rest of my race in future years; that makes me proud." Robinson also said later that having his wife in the stands kept him from feeling lonely on the field. Robinson received hate mail day in and day out, as well as newspaper criticism. At one point in the beginning of his career, he thought about calling it quits. He wondered if his sacrifice was truly worth it. He then realized that if he failed to break the barrier in this attempt, it might never happen. Robinson knew he had to make the sacrifice for African-Americans. "I don't care if they like me, I don't care if they respect me[but] they came close today." Here, Jackie realizes how difficult it would be for him to achieve his goal of breaking the color barrier while being called terrible racial slurs during his at-bats.
Jackie Robinson was able to endure this harassment because of his values, which his daughter, Sharon writes about in her book, Jackie's Nine. She talks about her father's courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence. Every one of these values combined to make Jackie the perfect person to integrate Major League Baseball. It was his courage that allowed him to ignore the discrimination and persecution early in his career and turn the other cheek.