MLB honors Robinson: ‘Maintaining his legacy burning’

LOS ANGELES — Jackie Robinson was the primary to interrupt baseball’s coloration barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers 78 years in the past Tuesday. His legacy continues to encourage individuals inside the most important leagues — and outdoors, too.

Gamers and workers from the Dodgers, together with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and rookie Roki Sasaki, and the Colorado Rockies surrounded Robinson’s statue in Centerfield Plaza hours earlier than sport time at Dodger Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day across the main leagues.

They have been joined by Basketball Corridor of Fame participant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who turns 78 on Wednesday. He recalled sporting a Brooklyn baseball cap whereas rising up within the neighboring borough of Manhattan.

“I would get in fights with individuals from the Giants, the Yankees, fairly usually,” he stated, “however I stored my cap on and no person was in a position to knock it off. I used to be so tall.”

Abdul-Jabbar, then referred to as Lew Alcindor, adopted in Robinson’s footsteps as a sports activities star at UCLA, the place he received three nationwide championships below Corridor of Fame coach John Picket.

Robinson has continued to be a lifelong inspiration for Abdul-Jabbar.

“He meant excellence, giving your all, giving your finest,” Abdul-Jabbar stated, “and for all of the detractors which are on the market, simply ignore them and carry on.”

Each crew taking part in Tuesday wore No. 42 jerseys. It is the one quantity universally retired within the majors.

“It is not only a one-off day,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “We perceive what this man did for our world, our nation. That is the way you go about life. That is one thing for me, conserving his legacy burning.”

Roberts, Ron Washington of the Los Angeles Angels and Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox are solely Black managers presently within the majors.

“One of many issues Jackie clearly nailed is he realized from an early time that life was going to be onerous,” Roberts stated. “He was particular and he was put on this sure place to rise above and know that it is not simply in regards to the sport of baseball. It is greater than him.”

The Dodgers and Rockies have been joined by Sonya Pankey Robinson, the oldest grandchild of Jackie and Rachel Robinson and the one baby of Jackie Jr., who was killed in a automobile accident in 1971 at age 24. Granddaughter Ayo Robinson, whose father is David Robinson, was additionally readily available.

“He was so progressive in so some ways,” Pankey Robinson stated of her grandfather. “After I take into consideration him fondly, I simply take into consideration all of his contributions to society and to us as a household. I really feel an actual accountability to uphold his values and I take that job very critically.”

Robinson’s 102-year-old widow marked the anniversary on the Jackie Robinson Museum in Brooklyn with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

“She is out wanting nice and greeting everybody,” stated Pankey Robinson, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday. “Not solely did she instill the values that she is aware of my grandfather would anticipate us to uphold, however she had her personal values and her personal expectations of us early on to set objectives for ourselves in life.”

Pankey Robinson lives close to her grandmother in New York, saying, “We hold it shut and tight.”

Jackie Robinson was within the information final month when a Protection Division web page describing his army service was restored after being removed. The division has been eradicating content material highlighting contributions by girls and minority teams as a part of a directive for President Donald Trump’s administration to delete materials selling variety, fairness and inclusion.

“Disheartening however not discouraged as a result of I believe what he is finished is etched in historical past and it is not anybody else’s place to take away that,” Pankey Robinson stated after the ceremony. “His impression is massive and we really feel good understanding, that whereas upset, what he did mattered.”

The Angels’ Washington discovered about Robinson when he purchased a e book about him throughout a bus cease in Waterloo, Iowa, on a minor league journey in 1972.

“It impacted me tremendously to seek out out what he needed to undergo simply to play the sport of baseball,” Washington stated, “and you then look again and say, ‘Wow, on this interval might I’ve finished that?’ I need to suppose I might, however I do not know if I might.”

New York Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone referred to as Robinson “some of the vital figures in American historical past.”

“Clearly, he was a part of integrating our sport, however a part of additional integrating America, and different sports activities. It is so cool what we get to do right now, and everybody sporting 42, bringing consideration to it and simply honoring what’s an incredible legacy.”