Jackie Robinson
According to a poll conducted in 1947, Robinson was the second most popular man in the country, behind Bing Crosby. In 1999, he was named by Time magazine on its list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. Also in 1999, he ranked number 44 on the Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. He was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team as the top vote-getter among second basemen. Baseball writer Bill James, in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, ranked Robinson as the 32nd greatest player of all time based on his performance on the field.  James noted that Robinson was one of the top players in the league throughout his career. Robinson was among the 25 first members of UCLA’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984. In 2002, Molefi Kete Asante included Robinson on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. Robinson has also been honored by the United States Postal Service on three different postage stamps, in 1982, 1999, and 2000.