On Wednesday, Major League Baseball honoured it’s greatest hero, Jackie Robinson, the man known in history as the first coloured baseball player in the MLB in the modern era, thus effectively breaking the colour barrier of baseball as being only exclusive whites.
Each year, since 2004, on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated, commemorating the day Robinson made his major league debut. In 2007, the 60th anniversary of Robinson's major league debut, the MLB invited players to wear the number 42 just for that day to honour Robinson. The gesture was the idea of outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr., who first sought Rachel Robinson's (Jackie’s wife) permission, and after receiving it, asked Commissioner Bud Selig for permission. Selig accepted the idea and extended the invitation to all major league teams, 200 players would go on to wear #42 in 2007. And this year Selig decided that all the teams playing and its players, coaches, and managers would wear #42 on April 15th.
Robinson was no slouch either and was in fact one of the game’s greatest players. His career started at the advanced age of 28 so he only played 10 seasons; all of them for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won several awards during his career. In 1946, in the minors, he carried his team the, Montreal Royals, to an International League championship. He stole home a record 19 times and none were a double steal. He played on six World Series teams and won one in 1955 when the Dodgers defeated the Yankees. He was a 6 time all-star and in 1947, he won the first MLB Rookie of the Year Award, the award would be named after him in 1987. Two years later, he won the National League MVP Award – the first black player to do so. He retired from baseball on January 5, 1957 and was the first black player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility. In 1997, the MLB retired Jackie’s #42 from the MLB, but allowed those already wearing the number to continue wearing it, thus Mariano Rivera will be the last player to wear #42.
He also had success away from the baseball field. Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball analyst and the first black vice president of Chock full o'Nuts and of a major American corporation. In December 1956 the NAACP recognized him with the Spingarn Medal, which it awards annually for the highest achievement by an African-American and he served on the board of the NAACP until 1967. In the 1960s, he helped to establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American owned and controlled entity based in Harlem, New York. Due to his achievements, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
In 1972, his wife, Rachel Robinson, created the Jackie Robinson Foundation to help African-American youth continue their education with scholarships. 13 MLB teams donate more than $1.5 million each, and the commisioner’s office donates $1.2 million as well in the names of all 30 teams. Among players, Derek Jeter is the only player that personally supports a Robinson scholar, but he doesn’t just support he actually endows a scholarship in his name, at the $250,000 level. So every four years, when steroids and police rap sheets overwhelm sports, Jeter, silently, has put another kid through college and embodies the spirit and kindness of Jackie Robinson.
Heart disease complications and diabetes weakened him and made him almost blind by middle age. On October 24, 1972, he died of a heart attack at home in Stamford, Connecticut, aged 53. Robinson once said "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me ... all I ask is that you respect me as a human being." I have tremendous respect for Jackie Robinson and his courageous efforts that allowed me personally, a coloured person and so many like me, the opportunity to play baseball. He is one of my heroes and I hope he will forever be remembered.
Peace and Much Love to Ya :)
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