A country can’t get by on principles alone — it needs heroes. Heroes take a nation’s principles and live them out.

This Friday marks the 75th anniversary of the greatest act of heroism in American sports. On this date in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball, suiting up for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first black big-league player. We rightly should focus most on Robinson himself. Few men could have conducted themselves as he did. We’re made a better country for studying the man and his honorable deeds.