Jackie Robinson, a Great Person

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Bob, true -- he never suited up for the Giants; close but not quite.

I was watching the Mets game the other night on Jackie Robinson day and the Dodgers' lineup for Robinson's first game was flashed onscreen. Keith Hernandez (who is a great commentator) was mentioning the names and how great the players were. After telling us that Dixie Walker was one of Robinson's teammates on that day, Hernandez failed to mention what a miserable racist Walker was (he refused initially to play with Robinson) and some of the difficulties Robinson faced from within his own clubhouse. That pissed me off. In fairness to Walker, he was raised in the deep south and was spoonfed his racism from birth. Eventually he came around and stated that his former views about Robinson were wrong.

Can you imagine having to stay at a different hotel than the rest of your team? And getting death threats before games?