As [the movie] “42” opens, we see Jackie Robinson sitting in the office of Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey as he hears the incredible news that Rickey wants him to play for the Dodgers.  Then Rickey acts out the vicious varieties of bigotry Jackie will face from white hotel managers, restaurant waiters, and fellow ballplayers — insults he will have to face with dignity.
How much more dramatic this scene would have been had “42” told the whole story.  Rickey knew that Robinson shared his Christian faith, and wanted to reinforce the spiritual dimensions of the battle both men were sure to face. Rickey pulled out a copy of a book by Giovanni Papini, “Life of Christ.”  He flipped to the passage in which Papini discusses the Sermon on the Mount.  There he referred to Jesus’ call to “turn the other cheek” as “the most stupefying of [Jesus’] revolutionary teachings.”
(Eric Metaxas)

Photo:  http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/baseball-on-carpet-gm693681374-128118585