A group of local youth baseball players wear number 42 in honour of Jackie Robinson before the Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox game at US Cellular Field in Chicago on Tuesday. (UPI)
AFP/Los Angeles
Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson on Tuesday, the 67th anniversary of his 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers debut that saw Robinson break the game’s colour barrier.
At major league ballparks across the country, hundreds of players donned Robinson’s jersey number 42 -- which was officially retired for all teams in 1997.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who came up with the idea of retiring Robinson’s number and celebrating the anniversary of his debut, received something of a thank-you gift on Tuesday.
He was presented with a number 42 plaque by Jackie Robinson’s daughter, Sharon Robinson, at the Major League Baseball Diversity Business Summit in New York.
“I am here because I love this commissioner and because my mother has such great respect for what he’s done for our family,” Sharon Robinson said.
“On a personal note, I feel really blessed with working with him for 18 years.”
Selig, who will be 80 in July and plans to retire as commissioner in January of next year, said he was honoured to receive the plaque from the family of Robinson, who died in 1972 at the age of 53.
“This means so much to me,” he said. “When I think back when we retired his number and to honour this wonderful legacy, not only for what it meant for baseball, but more importantly what it meant to American society—this means a great deal.”
Rain put a damper on some of the planned festivities.
The New York Yankees had planned to honour not only Robinson but also late South African president Nelson Mandela—who in 1986 gave a speech at the old Yankee Stadium.
Those plans were put on hold when the clash between the Yankees and Chicago Cubs was postponed by rain.
The game was to be made up as part of a double-header in the Bronx, with the teams planning to wear Robinson’s number 42 in the nightcap.
‘A big day for baseball’
Across the country at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers players all wore number 42, with Dodgers manager Don Mattingly saying his team were particularly pleased to pay tribute to Robinson’s legacy.
“It’s a big day for all of baseball,” Mattingly said. “It’s a little extra special for the Dodgers because he played for our organisation.”
However, even as baseball recognises Robinson’s breakthrough, the game is grappling with the fact that African-American representation in the major leagues has plummeted.
A USA Today survey found that African-Americans make up 7.8 percent of major league players—the lowest percentage since 1958.
Despite those dispiriting statistics, Tuesday’s mood was celebratory, with even US President Barack Obama paying tribute to Robinson via Twitter.
“No. 42. He hit it out of the park,” a tweet on the president’s official Twitter feed read.
In Houston, Astros manager Bo Porter—one of only two African-American managers currently in the major leagues—said it was important to remember the contribution Robinson made in the face of tremendous hostility in segregated America.
“I think you look at not only his accomplishments, but the circumstances he had to deal with, in order to play day in and day out,” Porter said.
“For him to be able to block all that out and go out and perform the way he performed, it’s remarkable.”
