Jackie Robinson received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2005. President George W. Bush presented the medal posthumously on March 2, 2005, to Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson, honoring his achievements in baseball and his contribution to the civil rights movement.
Robinson died in 1972, so he could not accept the award himself. The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress’s highest civilian honor, and Robinson was only the second baseball player to receive it, after Roberto Clemente. His medal recognized more than breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947; it also acknowledged his work challenging racial discrimination beyond the ballpark.
The honor is sometimes confused with Robinson’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, which President Ronald Reagan awarded posthumously in 1984. Major League Baseball later retired Robinson’s number 42 throughout the sport in 1997, another unprecedented tribute. April 15 is now Jackie Robinson Day, when every MLB team honors his debut and players traditionally wear number 42.