CELEBRATING JACKIE ROBINSON DAY
The Associated Press
Players across the majors will don Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 — and all of them in Dodger blue this year — for the 75th anniversary of Robinson’s big league debut.
The Dodgers, of course, will be at home in Los Angeles, facing the Cincinnati Reds. They’ll be joined by Robinson’s 99-year-old widow, Rachel, and her son David.
Earlier in the day, David Robinson will read the book “I Am Jackie Robinson” at Longfellow Elementary School in Pasadena, California, where Robinson grew up. He’ll be joined by Robinson’s granddaughter, Ayo, pitcher David Price and Players Alliance founders Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.
Outfielder Mookie Betts will join the Robinson family at nearby John Muir High for the unveiling of a mural of Robinson. He starred in football, basketball, baseball and track at the Pasadena school in the 1930s.
JACKIE ROBINSON’S LEGACY LIVES ON
Baseball players of Black African descent were excluded from Major League Baseball until 1947. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. By the late 1950s, the percentage of black players on Major League teams matched or exceeded that of the general population.
In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams; he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored. After baseball, Robinson became heavily involved working for the NAACP, campaigning for civil rights. Robinson worked with President Richard Nixon and the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller.
Jackie Robinson Day occurs annually on April 15 in Major League Baseball (MLB), commemorating and honoring the day Jackie Robinson made his major league debut. April 15 was Opening Day in 1947, Robinson’s first season in the major leagues.
Initiated for the first time on April 15, 2004, the festivity is a result of Robinson’s memorable career, best known for becoming the first black major league baseball player of the modern era in 1947.
His debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers) ended approximately 80 years of baseball segregation, also known as the baseball color line, or color barrier. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Source: Wikipedia
