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“JACKIE ROBINSON-REMEMBERED”
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Baseball remembered greatness on April 15th..not so much the player, but more importantly the person.
Jackie Robinson-the Brooklyn Dodgers icon, broke the collar barrier, shattered myths, destroyed prejudice, and lived as full a baseball life as possible, considering it went from opening day 1947 to the final Dodgers home game in 1957.
His life derailed by racism, his career interrupted by World War II, his stardom fueled by the hate and revile coming from his own teammates, opposing players and managers, and to some degree by the fans still living in a segregated world they had known their whole life.
On Jackie Robinson Day, everyone wore #42. His number is retired in every stadium in baseball. He is displayed in so many ways at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
On this day, that day, in 1947 in Brooklyn, Jackie debuted vs the Boston Braves. No mention of his color in the newspapeer stories on the UPI wire or in the newspapers in New York. Just the rookie going (0-3) but walking and scoring a run
The headlines and all the rest of the stories would come later, in newspaper reports, in books, in movies and in Robinson’s influential post baseball career in business and politics.
His Hall of Fame plaque spoke volumes about talent, the (.311) career average, the hits, runs scored, stolen bases. But as time passed the plaque meant even more, the doors he opened, what he represented too for an African American society..
And in Jackie’s own way, he refused to allow a white man to dictate his life, retiring when the Dodgers tried to trade him to the New York Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield.
Robinson had so much to say about the road he travelled, and so did baseball people who walked with him, played against him, called him teammate, called him foe.
Comments from the Jackie Robinson Foundation of the man, and those around the man.
#42-always to be remembered, player and person.
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Jackie Robinson-Quotes
“Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.”
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”
“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.”
“There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.”
“During my life, I have had a few nightmares which happened to me while I was wide awake.”
“I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest Black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made.”
“Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.”
“Negroes aren’t seeking anything which is not good for the nation as well as ourselves. In order for America to be 100% strong — economically, defensively and morally — we cannot afford the waste of having second- and third-class citizens.”
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Baseball Comments on Jackie Robinson-Quotes
—”A credit to baseball and to America.”
Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
—“To do what he did has got to be the most tremendous thing I’ve ever seen in sports.”
Pee Wee Reese, teammate of Jackie Robinson
—“The greatest moment in the history of baseball.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred
—“He gave the Black community a sense of hope, a sense of pride.”
John Lewis, civil rights leader
—”I didn’t know baseball from pingpong. But the point was that he had broken in. I grew inches that day. I puffed out my chest. A Black person had made it against the most tremendous odds.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
—“Jackie’s character was much more important than his batting average.”
Hank Aaron
—”Jackie Robinson made his country and you and me and all of us a shade more free.”
Roger Kahn, author of “The Boys of Summer”
—“There’s a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me.”
Former President Barack Obama
—“He knew he had to do well. He knew that the future of Blacks in baseball depended on it. The pressure was enormous, overwhelming, and unbearable at times. I don’t know how he held up. I know I never could have. He was the greatest competitor I have ever seen.”
Duke Snider, teammate
—”There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker than Jackie Robinson.”
Rickey
—”After the game, Jackie Robinson came into our clubhouse and shook my hand. He said, ‘You’re a helluva ballplayer and you’ve got a great future.’ I thought that was a classy gesture, one I wasn’t then capable of making. I was a bad loser. What meant even more was what Jackie told the press, ‘Mantle beat us. He was the difference between the two teams. They didn’t miss DiMaggio .’ I have to admit, I became a Jackie Robinson fan on the spot. And when I think of that World Series, his gesture is what comes to mind. Here was a player who had without doubt suffered more abuse and more taunts and more hatred than any player in the history of the game. And he had made a special effort to compliment and encourage a young white kid from Oklahoma.”
Mickey Mantle, on the 1952 World Series
—”Jackie, we’ve got no army. There’s virtually nobody on our side. No owner, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I’m afraid that many fans may be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I am doing this because you’re a great ballplayer, and a fine gentleman.”
Rickey
—”Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson .”
Willie Mays
—”Give me five players like Robinson and a pitcher and I’ll beat any nine-man team in baseball.”
Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen
—”He led America by example. He reminded our people of what was right and he reminded them of what was wrong. I think it can be safely said today that Jackie Robinson made the United States a better nation.”
American League President Gene Budig
—”Jackie Robinson is the best I’ve seen. Robinson is the perfect blend of ballplayer. He has creativeness and imagination. Every move he makes from the minute he steps onto the field is designed to beat the other club. He’s constantly asking himself, at bat or on the bases, ‘what can I do to beat the other guy?’ That’s the kind of ballplayer that wins pennants.”
Fresco Thompson, assistant farm director for the Dodgers when Robinson played his first game