Jackie Robinson Day



April 15th, 2015: The Mets host the Phillies at Citi Field on Jackie Robinson Day. New York won it 6-1, as every player donned the number 42 worn with such grace and greatness by the man who made baseball truly America's game. Jackie made his Dodgers debut on April 15th, 1947.

Retiring 42 across baseball is a marvelous symbol. Let's not overlook his excellence as a scholar-athlete in high school and college. Before he integrated the major leagues, he excelled in four sports at UCLA. To this day, he is the only Bruin to letter in four different sports. Along with Babe Ruth, he remains one of the two most important baseball players of all time. And his legacy only looks more impressive through the lens of time: as a sports figure, as an activist, as an American hero.
Paul Sorvino, who grew up a Brooklyn Dodger fan, is not only a respected actor, but a gifted sculptor. He created the image of Jackie commissioned for a 2016 event in New York's Times Square.  I asked him what Robinson's greatest contribution was. Paul replied, "He gave me the gift of freedom from racism. I grew up admiring this man as much as I admired anybody in the world. In Brooklyn, we didn't think about 'he's a black guy,' we just loved him because he was a Dodger; the Dodgers were our soul. And automatically, we took it as the way the world is supposed to be. We're all the same people, brothers and sisters."

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