Baseball - A Gesture of Respect Grows Into a Movement

Sixty years after Jackie Robinson shook the baseball establishment and broke the sport?s color barrier, an unforeseen grassroots movement by today?s players has suddenly shaped the way Major League Baseball will commemorate the anniversary. Hundreds of players will wear Robinson?s No. 42 retired by baseball 10 years ago in ballparks across the country on Sunday, the anniversary of Robinson?s first appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

While the tribute has received baseball?s approval, it grew spontaneously from a request by the Cincinnati Reds? Ken Griffey Jr., who asked Commissioner Bud Selig earlier this month if he could wear the number on April 15. What has evolved since is surprisingly organic for a group of famous, feted athletes with multimillion-dollar contracts.

As word of Griffey?s gesture spread, small groups of players ? among them stars like Barry Bonds, Dontrelle Willis and Gary Sheffield ? decided also to wear 42 that day. Soon, there was a representative from every team. The Los Angeles Dodgers then decided to have their entire roster wear 42.

Now, there are six major league teams that plan to have everyone in uniform wearing No. 42 ? players, coaches, manager and bat boys. Those teams are the Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Houston Astros.

And the number of jerseys having a new 42 sewn onto the back remains fluid, but seems to be increasing by the day.

Baseball had planned events commemorating the 60th anniversary at every ballpark this year, even before the ad hoc initiative to wear Robinson?s number began. The plans were not as elaborate as those for the 50th anniversary, when President Bill Clinton and Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson?s widow, appeared in a ceremony in the middle of a game at Shea Stadium. But commemorations were scheduled in some cities, including Los Angeles and New York.

?Maybe the best thing about this year?s tribute is that it came from the players,? said Mets Manager Willie Randolph. ?You hear these jokes that the modern player doesn?t know anything about baseball history. But it?s pretty clear that most of them do appreciate what Jackie Robinson did for them ? for all of them.?

Randolph will be the lone Met wearing No. 42 on Sunday at the behest of the team?s ownership to recognize the special place Robinson holds in Randolph?s life.

The acknowledgment of Robinson?s 60th anniversary comes at a time when the number of African-Americans in baseball is rapidly diminishing.

African-Americans make up less than 10 percent of Major League Baseball?s rosters. In the 1970s, black players made up nearly 30 percent of the rosters.

?That is a complex situation,? Randolph, the first African-American to manage one of New York?s major league teams, said in his office hours before last night?s Mets-Phillies game. ?But maybe Sunday will be the occasion when some young kids are inspired by Jackie Robinson?s life the way I was.?

Randolph, who was raised in Brooklyn, said he first read about Robinson when he took a biography out of a neighborhood library.

?I read about someone I could identify with, and I saw how one life can make such a tremendous impact,? said Randolph, whose desk inside Shea Stadium is surrounded by photographs of Robinson and other stars of the Negro leagues. At home, Randolph said he has a voluminous collection of books on Robinson and black baseball.

?It?s fascinating to see their struggles,? he said. ?You don?t compare yourself to any of those guys or what they went through, but sometimes, like when I was trying to get a manager?s job in the big leagues, you strive to get people to see you and not the stereotypes. I mean, New York is a big, big city, and to think it took this long to have an African-American manager, well, it?s still something to think about.?

Randolph?s former team, the Yankees, will have four No. 42 uniforms on Sunday, for Derek Jeter, Joe Torre, Mariano Rivera and Robinson Can?, who is named for Jackie Robinson. Rivera was given No. 42 as a rookie in 1995 and is the last active player wearing the number since it was retired in 1997.

The Phillies are among the teams that will have the entire roster wearing No. 42. The team made the decision to do so after a players? meeting last week.

?Major League Baseball said it was possible, and when it came up, our players? vote on it was unanimous,? said Frank Coppenbarger, the Phillies? equipment manager.

Coppenbarger said the team?s regular uniform provider would sew No. 42s onto about 38 uniforms.

No player on any team wearing a No. 42 will have a name on the jersey above the number. The jerseys will be authenticated by Major League Baseball after Sunday?s games and most will be auctioned off for charity.

In the middle part of the 20th century, the St. Louis Cardinals were considered one of the major league teams most resistant to integration, but last week, when their equipment manager went around the team?s clubhouse, every player said he wanted to wear 42.

The Cardinals visited Memphis a week earlier for an exhibition game that was linked to the civil rights museum at the assassination site of Martin Luther King Jr. Several players toured the museum on their visit, a Cardinals spokesman said.

?Jackie Robinson?s impact is still being felt today but it was also felt almost immediately,? said Jonathan Eig, whose new book ?Opening Day? chronicles Robinson?s 1947 season. ?In my research I discovered a letter from a factory owner in Bloomfield, N.J., who wrote that Robinson was the inspiration for integrating his factory in 1947. He wrote the letter to Robinson?s widow after her husband?s death because he wanted her to know the impact Jackie had on him.?

Earlier yesterday, Randolph said he had gone into the small closet next to his desk to gather some socks and unexpectedly came across Sunday?s specially-made No. 42 jersey.

?It gave me goose bumps,? Randolph said last night. ?I called my wife just to tell her how beautiful it was. I can?t wait to wear it. It?s going to be an emotional day.?

Randolph said that after Sunday?s game the jersey would be framed.

?I have a spot picked out on my office wall,? he said. ?That is one I will keep forever.?

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