Before He Wore 42

Before Jackie Robinson was the principal figure in a great American story, he was the central character in a great Canadian story, rooted in a second-floor flat reached by a steel stairway at 8232 Avenue de Gaspé in Montreal and on the grassy expanses of the old Delorimier Stadium at 2101 Rue Ontario Est. It was at these addresses, sometimes forgotten but vital venues in the Robinson saga, that the fabled shatterer of baseball’s colour line was on deck for the major leagues.

To add to the sports film 42, from 2013, and the countless books about the ascent of Jackie Robinson to diamond fame — a civil rights story as much as a sports tale and, overall, a profile in courage before the phrase became part of the English language — comes a comprehensive look at the season he spent in Montreal. That summer, he went about the city without being taunted, stole bases almost at will, and prepared himself for a leap not only from Class AAA International League play to...