$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Apr 12, 2008 11:17:44 GMT -5
Jackie Day to reach Empire State Bldg. Dodger Blue to adorn landmark to honor Robinson anniversary
NEW YORK -- Dodger Blue, a color that has been missing from this city for 50 years since Brooklyn's former ballclub moved to Los Angeles, will make a reappearance atop the Empire State Building on Tuesday to coincide with the celebration of Jackie Robinson Day throughout Major League Baseball.
Tuesday marks the 61st anniversary of Robinson's 1947 debut at first base for the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, an event that officially ended the color barrier in baseball and was a first step toward the struggle to eliminate race separation in United States society. After his 10-season career with the Dodgers, Robinson went on to become a leader in the civil rights movement and a crusader for racial equality.
The Empire State Building, New York's most famous structure, will be illuminated in the Dodgers' traditional color of bright blue. The edifice at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue that stands 1,454 feet above ground, takes note of events and anniversaries with changing color schemes at its peak, such as blue, white and red for the NFL's New York Giants' Super Bowl championship.
With new investments in infrastructure, public areas and amenities, the Empire State Building has attracted tenants in a diverse array of industries from around the world. Recently named America's favorite building in a poll by the American Institute of Architects, the Empire State Building opened in 1931, with former Gov. Al Smith unlocking its doors, and has since been one of New York City's most enduring symbols.
So, too, has Robinson, who died in 1972. A year later, Rachel Robinson, his widow, organized the Jackie Robinson Foundation to provide college scholarships and leadership counseling to minority students. The Foundation's offices are in lower Manhattan, where the Jackie Robinson Museum is scheduled for a late summer opening in 2009.
"Being a National League team in New York, obviously the Mets have a great relationship with Jackie's extended family," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "It's great to take on that role, and we have guys who enjoy being in a situation where they want to continue that legacy."
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Apr 12, 2008 13:07:27 GMT -5
Maybe they should change the Statue of Liberty and carve his face on it.
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Post by thecaptain15 on Apr 12, 2008 14:21:14 GMT -5
Let them light up LA Blue......leave the Empire State building alone....
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Apr 29, 2008 18:06:56 GMT -5
Hall to unveil new Robinson plaque Language will be updated to reflect Jackie's legacy
The National Baseball Hall of Fame intends to unveil a new plaque dedicated to the great Jackie Robinson this Saturday in its plaque gallery at the museum on Main Street in downtown Cooperstown, N.Y. His widow, Rachel, will be present for the 1:30 p.m. ET ceremony.
The plaque will have updated language further honoring the career and legacy of the late Robinson, the first black player during the 20th century to cross Major League Baseball's color line for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Robinson was elected to the Hall by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1962.
The original plaque has been on the wall in the museum since then and was removed only once this past March 29 and taken to Memphis, where it was put on display for the second annual Civil Rights Game.
"When he earned election to the Hall of Fame in 1962, Jackie Robinson totaled a career worthy of inclusion based on performance alone," Jeff Idelson, the president of the Hall, said in a statement. "Now, 46 years later, his impact is not fully defined without mention of his extreme courage in breaking baseball's color barrier. The time is right to recognize his contribution to history, not only as a Hall of Fame player, but also as a civil rights pioneer."
Robinson's coming has been heralded as a presage to the civil rights movement and those actions occurred years before the U.S. military or its public schools were integrated.
Robinson was elected to the Hall in the same year as former Indians fireballer Bob Feller and, considering it a sign of the times, Feller received votes on 150 of 160 ballots cast (93.8 percent), while Robinson's name appeared on 124 of those ballots (77.5 percent).
It wasn't until 1972 that the Dodgers retired Robinson's famous No. 42 and 1997 when Commissioner Bud Selig did so for perpetuity throughout baseball on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Robinson's feat.
Up until now, Robinson's plaque has read accordingly, making no mention of his sociological impact on the game:
"Leading N.L. batter in 1949. Holds fielding mark for second baseman playing in 150 or more games at .992. Led N.L. in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949. Most Valuable Player in 1949. Lifetime batting average .311. Joint record holder for most double plays by second baseman, 137 in 1951. Led second basemen in double plays 1949-50-51-52."
The new and updated language will be released on Saturday.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Apr 29, 2008 21:02:31 GMT -5
I'm telling you, they should just rename a state in his honor. Or maybe change the name of the country to the United States of Jackie Robinson.
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Post by 9 on Apr 29, 2008 23:28:00 GMT -5
If he was a Yankee, you'd already be hard at work designing the flag. ;D
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Apr 30, 2008 5:49:32 GMT -5
If he were a Yankee, Tom would be shitting on this even more than it deserves to be shit on.
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Post by 9 on Apr 30, 2008 7:38:55 GMT -5
OK, I have to surrender that last point to Balls!
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Post by Chris on Apr 30, 2008 8:38:10 GMT -5
HA!!!! This exchange is funny.
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Post by Jason Giambi on Apr 30, 2008 9:52:06 GMT -5
I can't wait for the "tubby" and "idiot" exchange to start.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Feb 1, 2009 0:36:01 GMT -5
'I work to honor this man every day' Dodgers, ex-teammates pay tribute on Jackie Robinson Legacy Day
LOS ANGELES -- Saturday would have been Jackie Robinson's 90th birthday and, for the second consecutive year, old Dodgers who knew the baseball and American legend paid tribute on Jackie Robinson Legacy Day: A Celebration of Life at Dodger Stadium, the kickoff to the team's eight-day Community Caravan through the Southland.
"It's a fundamental principle of the Dodgers these past five years, especially since the McCourt family purchased the team, to have tried to instill ... the personal role the Dodgers play in the community." said the club's chief marketing officer, Charles Steinberg, speaking before more than 200 kids.
"Jackie Robinson has meant so much to these children and they deserve to know about him. They are aware of the changing times in America, where there is now a president who may not have been elected many years ago. They are looking at a team of diverse players -- that would have not been diverse many years ago.
"When you can teach them that it started with Jackie Robinson and it was a matter of character and courage, more than athletic ability, then you may have the opportunity to help influence their life or at a minimum you make sure they know who Jackie Robinson was and why he has a role in their lives."
Among the kids in attendance, 34 came from the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. They were given a Jackie Robinson T-shirt with his No. 42 on it and a copy of artist Kadir Nelson's book, "We Are The Ship," that has 47 of his paintings and stories about the Negro Leagues and its history. Everyone was treated to a traditional baseball lunch of hamburgers, Dodger Dogs, cracker jacks and popcorn while listening to speeches from Steinberg, Nelson and three former Dodgers who knew Robinson well: Lou Johnson, Tommy Davis and Robinson's close friend and teammate, Don Newcombe.
"As long as God allows me to be on this earth I'll do whatever I can to promote some remembrance of this great American named Jackie Robinson," said Newcombe, who met Robinson when they playing in the Negro Leagues in 1945 and remained friends until Robinson died of a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 53. "I'll never forget what he did for me and my career and my life. And I don't think he should ever be forgotten, and the Dodgers are always in the right frame of mind to do something to remember Jackie."
"If it weren't for Jackie, I wouldn't be here," said Davis, the two-time National League batting champion for the Dodgers in the 1960s. "He was the first and that gave me a lot of inspiration and I was about to sign with the Yankees in 1957 and two days before I was going to sign with them Jackie called me at my house and when I heard his voice, that was it. I was about to sign with the Yankees; instead, I signed that afternoon with the Dodgers."
With black history month across the nation beginning, the historical significance of what happened 11 days earlier with swearing in of President Obama is still fresh on people's minds, with many of the young people in attendance putting their No. 42 shirts over the Barack Obama shirts they wore to the stadium. Newcombe, who had been invited to the inaugural but chose to to stay in Los Angeles to watch it at home with his wife, Karen, sees the legacy Robinson began and continues with the new president.
"The way things are going on in our country now, with our new President Obama, I think Jackie needs to be in that whole process," said Newcombe. "Jackie was doing it before everybody else, Martin Luther King and all the rest of them. Martin even sat at my dinner table, 28 days before he died, and he said 'Don, you'll never know how easy you, Jackie and Roy [Campanella] made it for me to be able to do my job.' "
"I think the No. 42 comes to mean something," said Steinberg. "Just as I think we are going to see with President Obama, the No. 44 is going to be symbolic as well. And they capture in simple numerical forms, stories, that are worth telling, that are necessary to tell, that can be summarized in just a couple of numbers."
Steinberg, who said the Dodgers will also go all out on April 15 in celebrating Jackie Robinson Day at Dodger Stadium, related a story that happened last February when a delegation of Chinese baseball officials met with Dodgers chairman Frank McCourt at Dodger Stadium in preparation for the Dodgers and Padres' historic trip to Beijing to play exhibition games last March. McCourt took the delegation down to the hallway leading to the clubhouse where all the retired Dodgers numbers reside. One of the delegation members walked up to Robinson's jersey and said, "This is Jackie Robinson's number." McCourt asked him how he knew that. The delegation member said he had read a book about Robinson when he was a boy in China and it taught him that baseball was open to everyone.
"Here was a man in 2008 at Dodger Stadium, from Tianjin, China, and his motivation for baseball, his love for baseball, started with Jackie Robinson," said Steinberg. "To me that tells us what a continued source of inspiration he is throughout the world and with enormous pride it was Branch Rickey and the Dodgers who made that pioneering step."
Said Davis: "I work to honor this man every day. Not just this day, but every day is Jackie Robinson's birthday in my book."
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Feb 1, 2009 10:57:53 GMT -5
That guy should dig him up and suck his rotting balls.
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Post by Jason Giambi on Feb 1, 2009 12:30:52 GMT -5
I hope they retire number 42 from all sports, even down to little league
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Post by 9 on Feb 1, 2009 12:47:40 GMT -5
Balls has to be the only person in the country who hates Jackie Robinson and doesn't belong to the KKK.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Feb 1, 2009 13:06:49 GMT -5
I don't hate him. I'm just sick of treating him like he's a god. He's not Abraham Lincoln. He's not Moses. He's not a founding father. He did something that someone else was going to do the same year. Yes, he did a big thing, but there comes a point of overkill when it comes to honoring him, and we're WAAAAAAY past that point.
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Post by Jason Giambi on Feb 1, 2009 13:28:37 GMT -5
are you sure Moses ever existed? I've seen picturs of Jackie.
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