Celebrating a Legend: Happy Jackie Robinson Day

I thought I'd celebrate Jackie Robinson Day today by sharing a few links to some different articles on the legend's career and life, and how we celebrate his legacy today. Enjoy.

Celebrate Jackie Robinson Day at Target Field [Sooze!]

12 facts you may not know about Jackie Robinson [Yahoo! Sports]

Jackie Robinson Day has bigger meaning than just jersey numbers [Rant Sports]

Padres to host 42 youngsters on Robinson Day [San Diego Padres]

MLB diversity slumps to '58 levels [Athletic Business]

Jackie Robinson Day special for Adam Jones [MLB]

Jackie Robinson Day: Celebrating a Legend

(The image to your right is a print by Peter Chen -- his excellent artwork can be found on his blog The Painted Baseball)

Happy Jackie Robinson Day, an entire day devoted to celebrating the life and legend.

Today is the 65th anniversary of the date when Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, becoming the first black man allowed to play the game outside the Negro League, playing his first big league game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year honors and play in six All-Star games.

As with every April 15 since 200 players and coaches did so in 2007, every single man on every single field will wear no. 42 to honor Robinson's legacy.

Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones will be taking it one step further, sporting these badass Jackie Robinson cleats, which are powder blue and yellow for UCLA, where Robinson attended college.

Visit the incredible iam42.com site for players' perspectives, great informational videos, and a twitter feed including the hashtag #IAM42. Now try not to cry while you watch this commercial.

Jackie Robinson Day: Celebrating a Legend

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." - Jackie Robinson.

While most of the country associates April 15 as the dreaded "Tax Day" the rest of us know that today's date has much more meaning.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day.

Today is the 64th anniversary of the date when Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, becoming the first black man allowed to play the game outside the Negro League. The baseball legend played his first big league game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year honors and play in six All-Star games.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day

There will be #42s everywhere you look today as baseball honors Jackie Robinson’s first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers, which came 62 years ago, on April 15, 1947.

Commissioner Bud Selig has asked that all managers, coaches and players on all 30 big league teams wear Robinson’s number to signify unity in the game and celebration of the date, which marks the breaking of baseball’s color barrier.

Learn more about Robinson's struggles and triumphs at the Official Jackie Robinson Site and by checking out the blogs below. Also, this book is amazing.

A wonderful sight: click here to see one number across the backs of all the nameless players today.

[MLB] | [True Blue LA] | [I Love This Game]

Jackie Robinson: Celebrating a Legend

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."
- Jackie Robinson.

It's been 61 years since the late, great Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier and thrilled fans with his sweet swing.

"What, no Rufus?" - [Deadspin]

"There was no other ballplayer like Jackie..." - [The Shooter's Lounge]

"I'm not okay with that." - [Beantown West]

"Jackie's Top 10 Moments" - [NY Daily News]

"...to watch and listen as he explained what Jackie Robinson meant to him as well as what he meant to baseball was a humbling experience." - [Diary of a Diehard]

Sunday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Albert Pujols, through with his April hitting drought, homered twice with five RBIs, spear-heading the St. Louis Cardinals' thirteen-hit, 10-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

In just his third start after making 572 consecutive relief appearances, Braden Looper allowed two runs on five hits over six innings, winning his second decision. The Cardinals first home win since Game 5 of the World Series came against Brewers ace Ben Sheets, who fell to 4-14 in 22 career starts against St. Louis after allowing eight runs - seven earned - on eight hits in five-plus innings.

Squeeze Play On A Rainy Day

There are in fact, a few games that are not rained out today...
Chris Young gets the ball tonight when the Los Angeles Dodgers (7-4) honor Jackie Robinson on the 60th anniversary of the day he broke the MLB color barrier at 8:05pm ET. Randy Wolf will start for the San Diego Padres (7-4) as the two clubs wrap up their weekend series. The Padres bounced back from a 9-1 blowout loss in the opener with a 7-2 win on Saturday.

Young put up great numbers in five starts against the Dodgers last season, allowing only 16 hits and nine runs over 30.1 innings, but went 0-1. Wolf gave up one run and three hits over six innings in his last start to earn the win in the Dodgers' 10-4 victory against the San Francisco Giants last Sunday. He hasn't faced the Padres since 2003, when he went 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA against them.

[MLB]

Remembering Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was more than just a baseball player. He was a legend - a brave soldier in the fight for black players to be treated as equals in the game of baseball and in life.

It was 1947 - only 60 years ago - that Jackie suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers' Opening Day, as the first black man to play in a major league baseball game.

Find out which players will be wearing #42 today, honoring the great Jackie Robinson over at Random Thoughts.

Read more on this topic...

[The Jackie Robinson Foundation]
[The Fanhouse]
[Los Angeles Times]
[The Oriole Post] | [Oriole Post]

The Anniversary of Breaking the Color Barrier

Every player on the Los Angeles Dodgers roster will be wearing #42 on Sunday, April 15th.

The club will honor the late Jackie Robinson by having all of its players wear his number when the Dodgers face the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Robinson becoming the first African-American player to appear in a big league game.

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. called Commissioner Bud Selig and received permission to wear Robinson's number that day, as well.

Art Imitates Baseball

The Colorado Rockies are conducting a Jackie Robinson Youth Artistic Contest for elementary and middle school students at 100 schools in the Denver area. This event was inspired by local artist Darrell Anderson, who 10 year ago, made his own artistic tribute to the icon who broke through baseball's color barrier in 1947.

The theme of the art contest is "Breaking Barriers" and students may submit anything artistic to describe what breaking barriers means to them. Poetry, music, art or a video presentation of dance and drama which may focus on Robinson or a personal experience relating to the theme are all acceptable.