Jackie Robinson is my all time favorite player and I always get a little emotional seeing every player wear 42 running out on the field every April 15.
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Robinson broke the color barrier on April 15, 1947, becoming the first African-American player to play in the major leagues in the modern era.
The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Danny Bakewell Sr., the executive publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel and the L.A. Watts Times, chairman of the Brotherhood Crusade and chairman of The Bakewell Co.
When Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers played the Philadelphia Phillies in 1947, he was told to “go back to the cotton fields” by the Phillies’ manager, refused service at a local hotel and taunted by players with racial slurs when he came to bat.
Jersey City will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking organized baseball’s color barrier at Roosevelt Stadium Sunday at Bayside Park. “I’ve heard John Lewis, the civil rights icon, say that before there was Martin Luther King and before there was Brown v. Board of Education [of Topeka] there was Jackie Robinson”.
Jamie Foxx is the voice of Jackie Robinson, reading excerpts from his newspaper columns, personal letters and autobiographies. “It meant a lot to my parents and most African Americans of past generations who were Brooklyn Dodger fans because of Jackie Robinson”. It was a fascinating look at Robinson and what he and his wife, Rachel, went through as he integrated the game and his life after baseball.
“Jackie’s life story, in particular, and the stories of the men forced to play in the Negro leagues, in general, had a tremendous impact on my life as a man, as a husband and as a professional baseball player”, Clark said. The Rickey he’s referring to was Branch Rickey, the Dodgers exec partially responsible for Robinson’s decision not to retaliate where Robinson saw fit. “It was something he never forgot… but neither should we”.
In 1997 he became the first African American to be honored on a gold USA commemorative coin.
The ceremony also included the Spirit of Jackie Robinson Awards, which honored community leaders who best exemplify Robinson’s qualities.
I watched and enjoyed seeing that my baseball hero was flawed.
I think its key to let young people know that these great people that came before us were human, had struggles and though left a great legacy its not unreachable.
“For them it’s the idea of infinite potential”, he said.
“He was a tremendous gentleman, and that’s the main thing I remember about him”.
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Numerous players, in the Bronx and around baseball, have taken to social media or spoken to beat writers to relay what Robinson and his efforts mean to them, but to Girardi, it’s a reminder that without struggle, there is no progress. “All I ask is that you respect me as a human being”.
