LOS ANGELES — Main League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson on Wednesday with each participant, coach and umpire carrying his No. 42 to mark the 79th anniversary of the infielder breaking the game’s colour barrier.
Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He went on to win Rookie of the 12 months honors and change into a six-time All-Star and the 1949 Nationwide League MVP. He performed in six World Sequence and received his solely championship in 1955 with the Dodgers.
“Each participant of colour who now enjoys our nice sport, they owe it to this man,” stated Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.
Robinson made his professional debut with the Kansas Metropolis Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945. He was there 5 months earlier than Dodgers normal supervisor Department Rickey interviewed him for attainable choice to Brooklyn’s Worldwide League farm membership. Rickey wished to ensure Robinson might face up to the racial antagonism with out reacting angrily.
“What he did was extremely tough beneath among the cruelest circumstances you may ever think about,” Kendrick stated. “He needed to go on the market and deal not solely with the racial hatred however he was carrying 21 million Black people on his again when he walked throughout these traces. Had he failed, a whole race of individuals would have failed. That is an infinite quantity of stress. How he did it with such grace, class and dignity is completely unbelievable. And no, we should always always remember Jackie Robinson.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets gathered across the center-field statue of Robinson stealing house at Dodger Stadium. Among the many Dodgers had been Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith, Roki Sasaki, Alex Vesia and Will Klein. Shohei Ohtani, who has attended beforehand, was not there forward of pitching in opposition to the Mets later.
“A big day, particularly for me as a Latino. I would not be right here if it wasn’t due to him,” Mets supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated. “Speak about coping with stress at this degree, think about what he handled again within the day.”
The Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, certainly one of simply two Black managers at present within the majors, informed the groups Robinson could be proud that they mirror his dream and imaginative and prescient of what equality and unity would appear to be.
“My ask is that we bear in mind how we acquired right here,” Roberts stated.
In New York, Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. wore his pinstripe pants free and blousy and rolled on the knees the best way many gamers did within the Nineteen Forties, together with Robinson.
A video commemorating Robinson and narrated by former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia was performed on the stadium scoreboard earlier than the group’s sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Angels.
“You take a look at the range in our sport so far as now, worldwide, and Jackie was the beginning of opening these doorways to not simply Black gamers with the ability to play however Latin America,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone stated, “and now now we have folks from everywhere in the globe enjoying this, and Jackie was the beginning of all that.”
In Pittsburgh, Pirates supervisor Don Kelly stated, “It would not look like sooner or later is sufficient to actually give again to Jackie and what he meant to baseball and to folks.”
Two of Robinson’s granddaughters joined the groups at Dodger Stadium, not removed from Robinson’s adopted hometown of Pasadena. He was a four-sport star at Pasadena Junior Faculty earlier than happening to UCLA, the place the Georgia native was higher recognized for soccer than baseball.
Final 12 months, a historic marker honoring the Robinson household was unveiled by the town of Pasadena at their former house.
“We’re actually carrying the legacy now and it is an unbelievable honor,” stated granddaughter Ayo Robinson, whose father, David, is Robinson’s youngest son. “It is a weight that feels good as a result of it retains you grounded in what’s so vital. I really feel just like the legacy is simply as vital at present because it has ever been.”
Robinson’s widow, Rachel, turns 104 in July. She lives in New York and nonetheless visits the Jackie Robinson Museum.
“She’s the robust matriarch of our household, surrounded by love and intention to proceed to permit her to dwell a life that she wished,” stated granddaughter Sonya Pankey Robinson, whose father was Jackie Robinson Jr.
Additionally readily available in Los Angeles had been recipients of scholarships from the Jackie Robinson Basis.
For the primary time in no less than twenty years, the share of Black gamers on Opening Day rosters elevated this season. Main League Baseball says 6.8% of gamers on Opening Day rosters, injured lists and the restricted record had been Black, up from 6.2% at first of the 2025 season and 6.0% at first of 2024.
“He is an icon,” Milwaukee Brewers supervisor Pat Murphy stated of Robinson. “To take today and make it one thing particular says quite a bit concerning the character of the sport.”
