Any word on the players from the DBacks that want to get their name in the media by wearing 42?
Question 2,
As a white guy, if I played in the MLB, could I wear 42 on Jackie Robinson day?
As cited in the last post by Brian, all Major Leaguers (Caucasian, African American, Latino, Asian) will be paying tribute to an occurance (equal opportunity) and the man who took the brunt of the bigotry -- Jackie Robinson. Some of the bigotry came from his own teammates, who moved on after that season.
Jackie was a four-letter athlete at UCLA (baseball, basketball, football and track), then was a Lieutenant in the US Army, before playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers top farm team, the Montreal Royals, in 1946, then joining the Dodgers, where he was NL Rookie of the Year in 1947.
He played 1B his rookie year, then moved to his natural position at 2B the following season, when the Dodgers traded Eddie Stanky to the Giants. That opened the way for Gil Hodges to move from C to 1B (where he became the smoothest fielding 1B in the game) and Roy Campanella became a power hitting Catcher.
They, along with Duke Snider, PeeWee Reese, Carl Furillo, etc., formed a NL dynasty for the next ten years. Ultimately Robinson also played 3B and LF.
He was a .300 hitter, drove in runs and was a base stealer.
When they filmed the movie, the Jackie Robinson Story, actress Ruby Dee played Rachel Robinson. Do you know who played Jackie Robinson? Jackie Robinson!
UCLA four-letter man, US Army Lieutenant, NL all-star, movie actor. And he had the guts to do it all while turning the other cheek to a nation's antagonism. He took abuse that most of us would not be able to endure and still performed with skill and grace.
And later died a premature death, diabetic and nearly blind. He gave his life, just as Martin Luther King, Jr., did, for equality.
When I was five, my father used to take me to Jersey City Giants games at Roosevelt Stadium. He was a NY Giants fan. By the time I was 11, I was a red-hot Dodgers fan. My father was not happy about that.
But I was in Roosevelt Stadium in 1946 the day Montreal visited Jersey City for Jackie Robinson's first professional baseball appearance. I didn't realize until six years later what a historic moment that was.
"Get their name in the media by wearing 42?" Honoring the memory of Jackie Robinson is a lot more than that.
As a white kid living in New Jersey, I knew. Every time I made the trek to Ebbets Field to see Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, PeeWee Reese, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Carl Erskine, Joe Black and the rest of my first love -- the Brooklyn Dodgers. Girls came later.
Neither my father nor I were happy when Walter O'Malley moved the Dodgers to LA in 1958 and got Horace Stoneham to take the Giants to San Francisco.
Not until I moved to Phoenix in 1978, that is. Before the D'backs, I took my sons to LA every year to Dodger Stadium.
And, oh yes, one of the many classy things that Jackie Robinson did? When Walter O'Malley tried trading him to the hated Giants, he chose to retire instead. Jackie Robinson was quite a guy!
