SteveJRogers

More tributes for Jackie planned this year

Heh, I forget if it was in 1998 or 1988 but I remember some article where IIRC Don Newcombe was slightly irked that Robinson's debut was just getting the full treatment at the major milestone years (5th and 10th anniversaries) and essentially mentions in the media the other years.

I guess wearing 42 for a day can get a yearly tribute thing accomplished!

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metman

so excited.

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NickPapagiorgio

I guess it is a nice thing to do but I don't know if it is totally necessary to do this every year. A mention at every game that day or a little video thing that day would be nice but if players want to wear his number every year on that day, that is certainly fine by me.

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KingOlerud

Every year, a new group of young baseball fans should be given the opportunity to learn about what Mr. Robinson did and went through, and what doors he opened to the game they love. Period. You'll have your people shouting "overkill", but this is one thing that baseball has actually gotten right.

No.1

TESTIFY!!!!

NickPapagiorgio

Very true.

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Medfordian Slip

50% of the players most likely speak Spanish now. They probably don't care that much.

Mr. Met

Totally agreed, KO

RkFast

OVERKILL!!!!!!

First of all, the tributes were incessant and went on for what seemed like DAYS. Second, I was MADLY turned off by Rachel Robinson. I heard her interviewed on Ed Randall's show and she had the blame whitey/race card routine out in full force. Turned me off, big time.

You wanna teach the kids about Jack Robinson, show them the movie "Soul of the Game", which I make a point to watch at least once before the season starts. Little ritual for me and a very educational movie about the Negro Leagues, etc. I grealty respect and acknowledge what Jack Robinson...AND BRANCH RICKEY.....did for MLB and society. But drumming everyone over the heads with it like Jack Robinson cured cancer is tedious. He was brave...and strong....but he endured no more than the average black man did in those days. He just did it on a baseball field. It can vbe argued he endured LESS. Wanna see a REAL brave black man? Show me some of the black men who were protecting their homes and families in Virginia and Alabama from roving gangs of men in white sheets holding pitchforks and buring crosses on their lawns at 2AM while the cops watched. THOSE men saw REAL terrible things and showed TRUE bravery in the face of REAL danger. What real danger did Robinson see besides having to endure a pitch thrown up and in at him and some taunts from some half-drunk rube in the stands?

Flame away...........

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metman

And every year it'll be proceeded with Joe Morgan showing that this is the lowest ratio of black players in eons. While he will be celebrated, his own people don't care about the game nearly as much. And the trend doesn't lie.

It should be discussed every year. No doubt. But I don't care if they go the uniform thing or not. I was just being sarcastic, but I won't lose sleep one way or another. I just wish they got off their ass and did this when it wasn't just another white man executive idea. Like, in the 60's...

It's good, but I am not Excited over it. That's all. It's like "ok, good...how do we get more of HIS people to give a **** more than the white people who remind us every year?" That's all I'm saying.

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SteveJRogers

They tried that, but all the players started to roid up!

Seriously, other than points I outlined in the thread about the Mets-White Sox game in terms of getting communities in this country to create a "baseball culture" the way there is with hoops and football in many communities, I'm not sure what can be done in terms of playing the game.

Right now it seems to be trending towards Latinos more than even white ballplayers, so if that is where the "best" players are coming from now, while the best American born athletes are going towards football and basketball, I really don't see what can be done.

BTW, a great example of how to build a sports culture in a community is Mount Vernon, New York where their HS basketball team is treated like icons, here is part of the reason for that from an article posted on the Mount Vernon basketball website:

I'd like to know how much of that is actually done with baseball. Oh sure every community has travel teams and such, but in terms of creating a factory that rivals, the Dodgers from Rickey through the final years of the O'Malley's reign, or the Orioles from the '60s through the mid '80s.

I think something like that needs to happen in order to "rebuild" (quotes because still the majority of players in the game are born in this country) baseball's dominance in being the game of choice by young athletes.

Ehh, just a couple of cents worth of thoughts anyway on the matter.

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NickPapagiorgio

Sorry but if the way to get more people interested in baseball is to increase the idol worship of HS kids than I will pass. The way this country idolizes and scrutinizes HS basketball and football players is already sickening and will lead to a generation of young people that want **** handed to them.

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uphill struggle

it's too late, there's already high school and college kids who will hold out, demand large signing bonuses and contractual demands...

Ajax

It would have been nice if people had been kind to Jackie Robinson when he was living. For some reason people like to praise others when they are no longer around to hear it. Now, most of us don't remember seeing Jackie play baseball, it's like an ancient history lesson.

Medfordian Slip

True. Most of the players in the league are either white or came from DR/PR, Mexico, Asia, etc. This type of recognition really means nothing to them.