By Larry Fitzgerald
Originally posted 4/30/2010
Major League Baseball has made a point of recognizing the courageous career achievement of the late Jackie Robinson. He was the first Black American allowed to play a game, baseball, with White players in the Major Leagues. It all started on April 15, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York, when the Dodgers hosted the Boston Red Sox. That was 63 years ago — not that long when you think about it.
The achievement gets overshadowed for the most part because most Americans have other things taxing their minds. After all, it falls on April 15. Not every home team on April 15 takes it seriously and has ceremonies so that Robinson can be properly remembered by the fans.
Why is that? Is it important or not important? The Minnesota Twins with their sparkling new Target Field, three Black starters — Denard Span, Orlando Hudson, and Delmon Young — and a sold-out crowd did absolutely nothing.
No Jackie Robinson pre-game ceremony here. Calvin Griffith would have been proud.
For the second year in a row, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig invited all players and uniformed employees to wear the late Hall of Famer’s famous number 42. “April 15, 1947, is a day that resonates with history throughout Major League Baseball, said Selig. “We hope to demonstrate the magnitude of his impact on the game of baseball.”
As hard as Selig works at recognizing Robinson, the point is that a lot of people still don’t get it. Black men could not eat in the same restaurants, much less live in the same neighborhoods as Whites. Or even use the same bathrooms.
Black men were dehumanized; Blacks had no rights; they could not vote. Many innocent Black men — three in Duluth, Minnesota — have been hanged and beaten in this country just because they were Black. Sports and the game of Major League Baseball helped change all of that.
So, educating fans on April 15 should also be about the truth, admitting why Robinson was used like a mouse in a chemistry lab for the sheer experiment of White men admitting finally that Black men were equal to them — or better — and that their perceived White superiority was mythical and based on having unfair power over a group of people.
Or was it for economic reasons? The Major Leagues noticed that the Negro Leagues were booming during that time with many great players like Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson, who was (hush) every bit as good as Babe Ruth. The Negro League crowds were enormous with the power and unity of Black dollars never leaving their own communities.
That all started to change in 1947. No man should have to deal with what Robinson faced; not only was he a great player, but also a great man. Robinson was an educated man, and his talent and strength of character allowed him to survive all the ignorance and racism.
Robinson becoming the first Black player to play in the Major Leagues prefaced the integration of the U.S. military and public schools. He was the first of many great Black players who included Larry Doby, the first Black player in the American League, and Frank Robinson, the only player in the history of baseball to be MVP in both the American and National Leagues.
Satchel Page, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Joe Black, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, Jim Gilliam, Maury Wills, Bob Gibson, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams — all these followed Jackie. It is a reality that allowing Jackie Robinson to become the first athlete of color in Major League Baseball in 1947 opened the door to sports business becoming the multi-billion-dollar machine it is today. For that, Black athletes, starting with Robinson, can never be repaid.
“Major League Baseball will never forget the contributions that Jackie made both on and off the field,” said Selig. Indeed.
Two years ago, MLB made a $1.2 million commitment to the Robinson Foundation over a four-year period to fund scholarships in the name of each of the 30 clubs. Each year, $300,000 is invested, representing 30 $10,000 scholarships.
Back in 1947, Black people were unified together at that time as one. It was survival of the fittest, strength in numbers. In reality, April 15 is a sad day, really, because it takes us back to asking ourselves why one race of people for so long and legally in these United States, where President Barack Obama now occupies the White House, can have been so unfair as to elevate themselves over another race with hatred and lies.
Only in America.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:20 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com
