Our society is one that has historically revered its athletes, treating them with admiration and respect. These individuals blessed with both natural talent and honest work ethic are generally considered to be the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the examples which we should all seek to follow. Sports stars have come to be treated as celebrities, the games they play and the competitions in which they partake comparable to the films, television shows and albums of actors and musicians.

This celebrity-like aura around our athletes has generally been a positive thing for both the public and sports stars themselves. In recent years, however, the tide has begun to turn. The paparazzi have become increasingly ruthless and the news much more scandal-fueled. And as these developments have meant lots of embarrassment for actors, musicians and writers, they have led to difficult predicaments for athletes as well. It seems like today, more than ever, athletes are being exposed for their bad behavior.

It is doubtful that our sports heroes began to fall off of the path of the moral compass in recent times – it is more likely that we are simply much more likely now to find out about their discretion. We remain interested in watching them play, investing in NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions and looking on through our high definition televisions as they battle it out. Nowadays, however, we also tune in to the gossip shows on satellite TV to find out what’s going on in their personal lives.

A combination of the increased attention to athletes with star-like status and a possible hike in bad behavior on the part of the sports stars themselves has created what seems to be a boom of exposed discretions.

Take former NBA star Jayson Williams, who retired from the New Jersey Nets in 2000. Since his retirement, the athlete has been plagued by run-ins with the law, ranging from a 2002 reckless-manslaughter charge to a 2010 drunk driving allegation.

NFL quarterback Michael Vick was arrested and convicted on felony charges of participation in illegal dog fighting activities. He was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison, and after serving his time, has returned to the NFL.

Former New York Giant Plaxico Burress is another footballer who has failed to stay out of trouble. In the fall of 2008, police responded to two domestic disturbance calls at his home, though charges were later dismissed. Later that year, however, Burress suffered an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound that is likely to be very damaging to both his personal life and NFL career. He has since been charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment.

Of course, we cannot be too demanding of our sports stars. Their job is to play, not to be scrutinized, and in reality it is best for us to stay out of their personal lives. Nevertheless, in the current media climate of ruthless journalism, it is likely that if these athletes fall out of line, their bad behavior will be exposed.

People of all colors and races have been playing baseball in one form or another since the game first came about. Who can even say when the first game of true “baseball” was even played? It’s not as easy a question as it seems.

When anyone talks about the first black baseball player, they are really talking about the first black “professional” baseball player. The first instances of black baseball players would be back in 1920, when Rube Foster began to organize the Negro National League. The idea was even older, with the first concept of a black baseball league coming up in 1907.

But the first black baseball player to play for a previously all-white professional team was Jackie Robinson. He played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in April of 1947.

Before being signed by Branch Richey of the Dodgers, Robinson was a star athlete at UCLA in several sports. He had also played baseball on teams in the Negro League. He was signed by Richey in 1945, and he then spent the season of 1946 in the Dodger minor league.

During that first major league year, he won the vaunted Rookie of the Year award. He would go on from there to win many more. The greatest honor that Robinson was granted was the retirement of his number 42 from all of Major League Baseball. Only Jackie Robinson has been given such a high honor in the sport.

But as mentioned earlier, he is by no means the first black man to simply play the sport of baseball. He was mainly the first to cross that line into an all-white league and be successful doing it. Before him, there were other players like Roy Campanello, Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neil, Piper Davis, Pumpsie Green and Leroy “Satchel” Paige.

Even so, Jackie Robinson will always remain as the one player who changed the history of baseball as the first black baseball player.