The passage of 67 years can and often does alter a myriad of viewpoints, feelings, and outlook, but a true legend's stature and impact only ever grows and deepens, regardless of the passing decades.
Jackie Robinson lived this, and his legacy furthers it, still. The sports superstar played his first Major League game on April 15, 1947, "breaking baseball's color barrier" in a profound and lasting way. Mr. Robinson went onto to be one of the greats, a Brooklyn Dodger and Hall-of-Famer and a titan of sportsmanship, leadership, and sheer talent and grace, playing in a half dozen World Series.
The Dodgers remember Mr. Robinson -- number #42, of course -- each and every year on Jackie Robinson Day. It isn't merely that the announcer makes a stirring speech, pre-game; rather a full complement of events, workshops, and commemorations round out the moving remembrance.
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Tuesday, April 15 started with young people from the ages of 8 to 16, all members of the Challengers Boys & Girls Club of South Los Angeles, joined in a baseball clinic (Dodger alums Derrel Thomas, Al "The Bull" Ferrara, and Kenny Landreaux were at the clinic's helm.)
The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation is hosting a stadium tour later in the day for Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars and alumni. And students from UCLA and USC will be on the walk-and-look, too. A stadium-based viewing of the Dodgers game, which is in San Francisco, is also scheduled for guests.
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But just because Mr. Robinson is so associated with the Dodgers doesn't mean we're the only team to honor his lasting legacy; teams throughout the Major League pay tribute in various ways, by donning the number 42 or lighting the Empire State Building blue, a nod to the Dodgers.
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For more ways to honor the man who changed history on one memorable spring day back in '47, check out the Dodgers site and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
