Jackie Robinson Day: Could be Much More

[M's_Fan]

First off, let me just state that Jackie Robinson was a simply phenomenal player and outstanding person. I love reading stories about him this time of year.

But lately every year when "Jackie Robinson Day" rolls around, I feel a little annoyed. The players and press people gush about Jackie all day. Just about everything they say about him is true.

But not a single mention is made all year of some of the other guys that had it just as hard, or at least almost as hard, as Jackie. What about some of the great players that tried to make it into the big leagues but failed, simply because of racism?

We've created this myth that Jackie was a player so outstanding in talent and personality, he simply walked on water and as a result white baseball simply had to accept him. Well, Jackie was outstanding in talent, but so were many players before him that got screwed because of the racism of the time.

As a result, everybody knows Jackie broke the color barrier. They gush about Jackie all day every year on Jackie day. They interview his great grand-kids and second-cousins. But people hardly know anything about anyone else. The average fan doesn't know Rube Foster, Oscar Charleston, or the story behind "Chief Tokohama."

http://www.sports-photos.com/catalog/images/OscarCharleston1B&W.tif.JPG
Who's this guy? Nobody seems interested.

What I would do, if I was commissioner, is keep "Jackie Robinson Day." But on every Jackie Day, I would select a player that would also be honored: a great player from the Negro leagues that never got the chance to play in the big leagues, or even some of the players that broke through around the same time as Jackie, like Satchell Paige and Larry Doby. I think Jackie would have wanted it this way.

Thoughts?

[thegashousegang]

I completely agree. I don't see much harm in choosing another player to recognize his accomplishments (or think of what could have been) and also remind everyone of what he had to endure in baseball...and in life - even if his name is only in the headlines for a day or two.

[barrysloate]

All excellent ideas, but myths are part not only of baseball but of our culture at large. Jackie is a great symbol of a major shift in American acceptance; Oscar Charleston was a great player but is not well known to most baseball fans. Nothing wrong with telling his story, and the stories of other great black ballplayers who toiled in obscurity. But the myth is still very important.

And let's tip our hat to all of the baseball announcers who yesterday had to broadcast games and identify the players when every last one of them was wearing #42. That was no easy task.

[dnanln]

While it is great to see 42 on everyone's back, I agree we should forget the other pioneers. It was very nice to hear on ESPN radio today, one of the commentators praise Larry Doby and his accomplishments.

[Fred]

Forget the pioneers? Just kidding - I know what you meant in that last post.

I think it would be great to see Jackie Robinson day include other Negro League pioneers that played well before Jackie.

What would have happened if it were Larry Doby to break the color barrier? I guess it would be Larry Doby day and everyone would be wearing number 14.

[ghostmarcelle]

Here's my Billiken Charleston

[jerseygary]

I also agree Jackie Robinson Day could be so much more. However I don't like it that they stretched it across two days this year, it kind of dilutes the whole thing to me. Anyway, here is a card I did for Robinson on my website, showing him with Montreal in 1946.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii238/jerseygary/jackie_montreal-1.jpg
My Baseball Card Project:
www.infinitecardset.blogspot.com

[packs]

I love that they do Jackie Robinson day and have all the players wear number 42. However it always really annoys me how the focus every Jackie Robinson day is on "Why aren't there as many African Americans that there used to be in the league?" and then the announcers harp on it for the next 45 minutes. Why not keep the focus on the great talent that IS in the game? Especially with the emergence of some great young African Americans in the game like Ryan Howard, Jason Heyward, Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen.

[drc]

Baseball has a very large minority population, it's just it includes Hispanics and Asians. The percentage of American blacks amongst Americans MLB players is larger than the percentage of blacks in the US population (Obviously, the Venezuelan, Mexican, Japanese etc population in MLB will by definition have and always have 0% black Americans, so it's silly to use them in the race-national percentage calculation. Of course it would be silly to say "How come there are no African-American players amongst the Japanese population?!?" but this is what some critics in essence are doing. MLB has a much much larger percentage of foreigners than the NBA, so it's impossible for the MLB to have a larger percentage of black Americans amongst the total playing population. Comparing the number of black Americans to the total playing population in the MLB versus NBA is thus comparing comparing apples to oranges.)

What bugs me when they compare blacks in MLB versus NBA is they never say "Why are there so few Hispanics in NBA? Is this lack of Hispanics a sign of race problems in the NBA?"

The total population in a sport can be no higher than 100%. If there are 50% Hispanic in the MLB (made up number), it's impossible to have 75 percent black like the the NBA. And I am assuming none of these critics are suggesting the MLB should be purged of Hispanics or that there be a quota on how many Hispanics or Asians be allowed to play baseball.

[packs]

Caribbean culture also muddies the water when it comes to percentages. A sizeable portion of Caribbean born players are of African decent, but because of the vast differences in culture between say a Domincan player and an African American player, they are always apart.

[drc]

As you touched on, African American is not defined just by race-- as indicated by the word 'American' in the term.

[packs]

I'm hoping programs like RBI and role models like Curtis Granderson will continue to garner interest in baseball from African American youths. I only mentioned the Carribean players to recognize that they're such a huge part of baseball today because of Jackie and players like him.

[ScottFandango]

Caribbean culture also muddies the water when it comes to percentages. A sizeable portion of Caribbean born players are of African decent, but because of the vast differences in culture between say a Domincan player and an African American player, they are always apart.

i would say 99.99% of carribbean born players are of african decent...

any island that has fresh water, had sugar grown on it, and you know where they got the workers for them... (only st barts lacks indigenous people from africa -it has no fresh water)

the difference is language and culture, thus the Latino and african american designations, but no doubt the share the same relatives dating back to 1600's....

[prewarsports]

I could not agree more. People like Larry Doby, and the others who played right around the time of Jackie Robinson endured Racial Hardships as well but get ZERO recognition for it. They should just rename Jackie Robinson Day "Baseball Civil Rights Day" and allow the players or teams to pick the Black/Latin Pioneers they want to recognize and honor. The Pirates could wear Clemente's number and honor him IF they want to etc. It is great that we honor Jackie but sad that todays fans have such a narrow view of Baseball History as a result.

Rhys