One Day Late, A Celebration of Jackie Robinson’s Centennial

Jackie Robinson was  born on January 19, 1919.

He was a great man.

He was the first black player in Baseball Major Leagues.

He was a man of high standars; when he was traded to the hated New York Giants, he quit baseball.

He stole home,in the World Series on Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra(sorry EG but he did)

This Blogger grew up in the Golden Age of Brooklyn; when it was Camelot. Brooklyn Dodgers  First Baseman Gil Hodges shopped at our local A&P; Hall of Famer Center Fielder Duke Snider bowled at FREDDIE FITZSIMMONS alley( my brother worked there as a pin monkey); Hall of Famer Shortstop Pee Wee Reese could be seen at WHITE CASTLE buying burgers; and Hall of Famer Second/Third Baseman Jackie Robinson and his wife could be seen picnicking in Prospect Park.

Pee Wee Reese, was Robinson’s best friend on the team. Reese was a white man from Kentucky. Before shaking hands with Jackie Robinson, he had NEVER shaken hands with a black man before. Reese knew about blacks, because his father had made a point of pointing out a tree which had been the site of  lynchings.

In post World  War II, Jackie Robinson was the first black to play professional Major League Baseball. It should be remembered that America had a population of around 160 million people; 16 million American males had served in World War II. Most American males were knowledgeable about guns, and knew how to shoot. This Blogger’s TV repairman had been a sniper.

“On May 13, 1947 a professional baseball game was about to be played at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.  A new ball player for the Dodgers named Jackie Robinson was taking infield practice with the rest of his mates before the game was about to start.  Robinson, however, wasn’t just any player.  He was the first African American to play on a professional baseball team.  Baseball then was still an all-white affair, as black ballplayers played in the “separate and apart” Negro League, as it was called.  Robinson, however, was chosen by Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, Branch Rickey, to be the first black player to play for a professional team in Major League baseball.  Robinson had been signed by the Dodgers in 1945 and had played for the Dodger’s minor league team a year earlier in Montreal, Canada.  He had made his major league debut with the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field on April 15th, 1947.  So this game in Cincinnati was among the earliest of the Dodgers’ road games that year, with Robinson being introduced for the first time to fans beyond Brooklyn.  In Cincinnati that day, however, they were not particularly welcoming of Robinson.

During the pre-game infield practice, the fans were heckling and taunting Robinson, who was then playing first base.  Robinson had also received death threats prior to the game, as he had elsewhere; threats that would continue to dog him for several years. 

Also taking infield practice that day was Dodger shortstop, Harold “Pee Wee” Reese, a veteran player and team captain. But Reese on this day walked diagonally across the field to join Robinson, where he began a conversation with the rookie and put his arm around Robinson’s shoulders as he spoke with him. 

Reese then, according to sportswriter Roger Kahn, “looked into the Cincinnati dugout and the grandstands beyond,” as the slurs and heckling were coming from both Cincinnati ballplayers and fans. Some were shouting out terms like “shoeshine boy” and “snowflake” and worse. Reese, however, did not call out at the taunters or the Cincinnati dugout. But he kept his arm around Robinson’s shoulder while talking to him, which soon helped quiet the crowd and defuse the hostility. It was a moment for many who saw it say they will never forget, as a hush fell over the field and stadium. For Robinson and Reese, the moment became an important bonding experience that helped forge a long friendship. Years later Robinson would tell Roger Kahn: “After Pee Wee came over like that, I never felt alone on a baseball field again.”….pophistory.com”

With so many American males trained in firearms, combat trained, and able to hit targets from a distance, a death threat had real gravitas.

Chadwick Boseman was the lead in the smash hit film, THE BLACK PANTHER and played Jackie Robinson in the film, 42.

Brian Helgeland was Boseman’s Director for 42.

“I’m really excited about this. “It’s the way he carries himself, his stillness — you just have that feeling that you’re around a strong person,” Helgeland said. He remembered choosing Boseman to anchor his film after seeing only two other auditions. “There’s a scene in the movie where Robinson’s teammate, Pee Wee Reese, puts his arm around him as a kind of show of solidarity. But Chad flips it on its head. He plays it like, ‘I’m doing fine, I’m tough as nails, but go ahead and put your arm around me if it makes you feel better.’ I think that’s who Chad is as a person.”…NEW YORK TIMES.”

Why denigrate Reese’ gesture, particularly when Reese placed his own life in harm’s way again?(Reese had served in the Pacific Theater during the War). Reese did not do that gesture to raise Robinson’s self esteem, self esteem is a Millennial fixation; Reese did it to save Robinson’s life.  History should not be re-written through a prism of Millennial insecurities, and Millennial fixations.

As for Robinson’s self esteem, Reese did address that: 'You know Jack, some of these guys are throwing at you because you're black. But others are doing it just because they plain don't like you. 'When Robinson died, Mrs. Robinson asked Reese to be a pallbearer at his funeral; that is not a honor Mrs. Robinson would have bestowed if Reese’s gesture had been as small as Millennials think.

Jackie Robinson starred in a film about his life while playing with the Dodgers, THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY, co-starring the glorious Ruby Dee as his wife. Skip 42 and try and watch that film.