There wasn't a day in 1972 dedicated to the man. The league hadn't retired his number on the 25th anniversary of his breaking the MLB color barrier. Until June 1972, the Dodgers had never retired a number. They would do it for him. Game 2 of the 1972 World Series in Cincinnati was the most significant moment in the history of the sport. The crowd at the stadium did not respond to Robinson.
No one has to deal with Robinson anymore. People can make of you what they want when you have been dead for almost 50 years. Robinson was taught to children at a young age. He was the first Black person to play in the majors, but that is not the focus of the lesson. He suffered those indignities without fighting back. He was called every racist name in the book by Branch Rickey. Robinson asked Rickey if he wanted a player who was afraid to fight back. Rickey wants a player with strength not to fight back. Robinson will face racism for three years and he will not retaliate.
Jackie Robinson and the men who followed her.
If they met him on April 15, 1972, he would have been different. He wouldn't have been an illustration or a symbol, he would have been a man. 25 years after breaking the color barrier, a man who was the first Black person in the majors was not satisfied.
His health failed him early and he died at 53 years old. We didn't get to see him become a professional writer in his senior years or become the most respected person in the history of his sport. He left us unhappy and unpopular.
Ron Rapoport wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times yesterday titled, Baseball Reveres Jackie Robinson, but Robinson didn't. Here's why.
Robinson was invited to many MLB events, but chose not to attend. He was thought to be bitter, and yes, he was. He was not simply being a grumpy old man. He wasn't that old. He had a complaint. He was not happy with the way MLB treated its Black players after they could no longer play, and the way that white people in the game were fast-tracked to manager and other roles that didn't require fielding grounders and managing 1-2 counts.
He talked about why some people didn't like his attitude toward MLB after he retired.
Robinson said that white America doesn't like black people. I don't think baseball owes me a thing. I am glad I didn't have to go to baseball on my knees.
Robinson was proud of his race. He kept it in check for as long as he could, but he wasn't going to fall over himself because MLB gave him the chance to play. The league was wrong for keeping Black players out for all of those years, and just because it was right doesn't mean he was happy with the league's progress.
He had a high Q-score decades after his death. There is a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on the American calendar. Ronald Regan probably wouldn't want to exchange Christmas cards if he met Dr. King in 1968.
Dr. King wasn't satisfied. He wasn't happy that basic voting rights were granted. Black people were not just from water fountains, but from the American economy. During the Great Depression, the government reached out to help, but they did not extend their hand to Black people. Dr. King talked about how the United States government looked out for its white citizens but never helped the Black population that had been enslaved on American soil after the Voting Rights Act was passed. In 1865 freed slaves were given land that was abandoned by the Confederates. The land was given back to the Confederates during Reconstruction, which meant that the recently freed slaves, who were legally prevented from earning wages and reading, were treated like nothing had ever happened.
He wanted America to give assistance to Black people so they wouldn't be looked at as welfare. He was looked at by the FBI as a communist because that did not go over well. His last act was helping black workers in Memphis get equal wages and safe working conditions.
Both Dr. King and Robinson understood that racism was more than just changing laws. Being alive is not cheap. Everything costs money outside of the air. There is no way to assure yourself of your human decencies without that. Black people wanted the same access to money and decency as white people, and they weren't going to be satisfied with anything less. The mid-late 20th century left both of them far from national holidays and a jersey number as a holy symbol for a sport.
They might not have received these recognitions if they had lived a full life. Imagine if both Dr. King and Robinson appeared on Nightline in 1985 because of their dislike for Richard Nixon. Their comments on America as the suburbs were flourishing and the inner cities were ravaged likely would have differed from what Hogan said.
Take a moment while looking at all those No. 42s to remember that the man who is the reason for the entire day died unfulfilled, and was considered ungrateful by some in life. 50 years have passed since his death. Imagine what he would think about the decades after he died. Would there ever be a day dedicated to the man?
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