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.
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