Remembering OUR JACKIE......

[VIBaseball]

As I have mentioned once or twice in other threads, someone named Harold Friend has a site called "The Bleacher Report" that regularly posts items from Brooklyn Dodgers history. Today's concerns an episode that I must confess I was unfamiliar with: the Dodgers' exhibition series against the Atlanta Crackers in April 1949 and their standoff with the Ku Klux Klan.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...e-ku-klux-klan

Branch Rickey stood his ground and the Klan caved.

Some other minor notes:

Samuel Green, the Grand Dragon who tried to stop the Dodgers coming because Jackie and Campy were there, died just four months later, in August 1949. (http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...83D85F4D8485F9)

Herman Talmadge, Georgia's governor -- who claimed not to be aware of the series -- later became a U.S. Senator from Georgia. He was part of the Watergate hearings.

But of greater interest here is the ghostwritten column put out under Jackie's name on August 23, 1949:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...n+atlanta+klan

[cavalier1968]

I always thought the United states should honor Jackie like they did Martin L King.........If no Jackie....no Martin.......

Cav

[jnakamura]

I always thought the United states should honor Jackie like they did Martin L King.........If no Jackie....no Martin.......

Cav

I can't agree. If no Jackie then someone else. If no Dr. King then someone else. The movement was 10,000 times bigger than any one man. Civil rights in the 20th century was inevitable.

As for a National Holiday--I don't think that's needed. Jackie Robinson is already honored, studied and esteemed as highly as just about anyone in modern American history. Having the banks and post office close one a year isn't going to make him any more so.

[crzblue]

Here's to you, Mr. Robinson

Happy Birthday!



Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com/

[VIBaseball]

Nice story about how a guy you wouldn't expect -- Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers -- is very big on Jackie and his legacy:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[EdTarbusz]

I always thought the United states should honor Jackie like they did Martin L King.........If no Jackie....no Martin.......

Cav

I don't agree with this. The more I study about the Civil Rights Movement, the more I think that baseball's role in it is overblown. The Civil Rights Movement as we know it today started almost 10 years after the Dodgers signed Robinson.

[jerseygary]

I did a card of Jackie for my site, The Infinite Baseball Card Set: www.infinitecardset.blogspot.com
[IMG][/IMG]

[King Crimson]

Without him the blacks would still play the Negro Leagues, spanish and asian people wouldn't have been where it is today.

[VIBaseball]

Here's a nice article about how Chris Young, now of the Mets, did his thesis on Jackie while completing his Princeton degree:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...s_brookly.html

[botolph]

Here's a story about the man who pitched to Jackie at his tryout for the Red Sox: Otey Clark thread

[Mattingly]

Speaking of honoring the great man, I've always been curious as to how many schools, major streets, roads, "excellence" awards (baseball or otherwise), or anything else have been named after him. In Queens, there's the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Anything else?

Thanks.

[aqib]

I can't agree. If no Jackie then someone else. If no Dr. King then someone else. The movement was 10,000 times bigger than any one man. Civil rights in the 20th century was inevitable.

As for a National Holiday--I don't think that's needed. Jackie Robinson is already honored, studied and esteemed as highly as just about anyone in modern American history. Having the banks and post office close one a year isn't going to make him any more so.

No offense but if you did that you would have 365 days a year of holidays. You would have to throw in Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Medger Evers, George Washington Carver, Booker T Washington, Frederick Douglas, etc

[Mattingly]

Here's to the 64th anniversary of his monumental "Great Experiement" (separate thread created by yours truly under Current Events).

[EdTarbusz]

I can't agree. If no Jackie then someone else.

I was reading a new Roy Campanella biography and it said that Don Newcomber and Roy Campanella thought the same thing. As time went on Jackie Robinson was becoming less and less popular with his teammates and Newcombe and Campanella felt that Robinson thought that they owed him because he was the first to break the color line. Apparently they didn't really see that way and that even if Robinson wouldn't have been first, someone would have. They were more concerned that the line had been broken and not by who had done it.

[metrotheme]

http://www.examiner.com/baseball-his...ackie-robinson

A quick piece on the new website MLB has dedicated to Robinson, which includes audio of an interview with Ralph Branca about witnessing Robinson's debut.

[VIBaseball]

Yesterday's celebration of Martin Luther King Day brought forth some pieces of Brooklyn Dodgers history. This article has an anecdote from Don Newcombe that may be new to a fair number of people:

http://www.courierpress.com/news/201...-still-remain/

[VIBaseball]

This is another one, featuring famous Brooklyn Dodgers fan Jerry Reinsdorf:

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/whit...act-in-chicago

[VIBaseball]

There's a new production in Chicago of a 1990 play called "Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting" -- the playwright is a college classmate of mine:

http://www.theatermania.com/chicago/...ls-_46697.html

[milladrive]

There's a new production in Chicago of a 1990 play called "Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting" -- the playwright is a college classmate of mine:

http://www.theatermania.com/chicago/...ls-_46697.html

Hey, that's very cool. I wish I could see it. If I lived anywhere near Chicago, I'd not hesitate.

[milladrive]

Nice to see MLB honoring Jackie's first game 65 years ago today with all players wearing his number. A very cool gesture on MLB's part.

[Joe Barrie]

This is another one, featuring famous Brooklyn Dodgers fan Jerry Reinsdorf:

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/whit...act-in-chicago

Memory is interesting. I am one year older than Reinsdorf and grew up in the same neighborhood. There was one black in the school at that time. Walter Fuller was the son of a building superintendent, and was a terrific athlete. I barely knew him.

Robinson's arrival was hardly greeted with unanimous joy either by the players or the fans, but he proved himself superior in every respect and deserves the praise he gets now.