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"Was Jackie Robinson the best baseball player to ever play? No. Was he the most important player to ever play? Yea."--Bob Costas.
"It was nothing for Jackie Robinson to participate in the Pac-8 track and field championships, then drive across town and get to the stadium and suit up and play in a football game."--Los Angeles Times sports columnist Jim Murray
"As a kid I would go down to the local theater for a matinee and before the movie started they would show highlight reels on sports. I see this kid playing running back for UCLA and I'm thinking to myself-man, this guy is a hell of a player!"--MLB and Robinson teammate Joe Black.
Those quotes come from the ESPN one hour documentary on Jackie Robinson. Called "Sports Century", the network televised 50 different documentaries from superstars of sports ranging from baseball to football to hockey to basketball to golf to skating to auto racing to track and field. And more. Televised in 2000, they won an Emmy award for best sports documentary. When these docs first hit the tube, I bought a bunch of VHS tapes and taped as many as I could. In fact, I called their offices in Bristol, Connecticut back then and asked them to market these docs. Later on, they put a few out for sale, but just a few. The only ones I have are of Babe Ruth and Wayne Gretzky.
Don’t forget that Robinson really sacrificed his health to the game. The effects of all the years of living with that stress clearly shortened his life. I don’t think you can overstate his contribution to MLB and our country no matter how much media coverage there is.
His widow has been the definition of class for all these years after his death.
Don’t forget that Robinson really sacrificed his health to the game. The effects of all the years of living with that stress clearly shortened his life. I don’t think you can overstate his contribution to MLB and our country no matter how much media coverage there is.
His widow has been the definition of class for all these years after his death.
Agreed. Very much-the word class describes Rachel Robinson! Regarding Robinson, yes diabetes took its toll on him early, passing at 53. I couldn't find a source if it was type one or type two though.
A dvd that I would definitely recommend is the Ken Burns documentary on Robinson. It was released a couple years ago and covers Robinson's whole life, not just the MLB end of his life but also the involvement he was in regarding the civil rights issues, his relationships with politicians, particularly with Presidents Kennedy and Nixon, and many other things. If I remember right, the second dvd comes in around 1955-it's a four hour set. Yes, there has been different videos regarding Jackie Robinson, this one covers it all. I believe you can get one from Amazon for a little more than $10.
Mets are home April 15th this year! YES! I hope to be there.
The NL team, whose Blue honors the Brooklyn Dodgers, belongs home on that day. Happens far too infrequently it seems.
Like most here, I have been in many parks, arenas, stadiums, and nothing approaches the Robinson Rotunda IMO in emotional impact.
The Wilpons have mostly failed, but not on that, or the overall feel of Citi Field.
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