Two outstanding athletes won topflight sport awards last week, and incidentally helped fortify their bargaining positions for 1950.
Big (6 ft., 190 lbs.), fleet-footed Jackie Robinson, 30, the first man to cross the color line into the major leagues, was voted by the sportwriters Most Valuable Player in the National League. As second baseman for the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers, he had been the league's batting champion (.342) and leading base stealer. The award would give him extra leverage in prying more salary out of Boss Branch Rickey than the estimated $22,000 he got this year. Said Robinson: "I don't know how much...
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