baseballhall.com
The Strat-O-Matic Negro Leagues legend card set is made up of 103 players. You can check out a list of the players is this Strat-O-Matic guide book. I am playing a 112-game simulated season, so I will have 9 Player Focus features on players that are not part of the set. There is no better place to start than with Jackie Robinson. Yesterday was Jackie Robinson day, celebrating the anniversary of the day in 1947 that Jackie broke the color barrier in the Major Leagues.
The story of Jackie Robinson is well known. It is a story of courage. It is a story that makes me proud … and sad. Jackie changed the world in a good way. Consider this paragraph from Heroes of the Negro Leagues by Mike Chiarello and Jack Morelli:
Although his time in the Negro Leagues was brief, Jackie Robinson was the slugging, sliding, shot heard ’round the world. He was Dr. King in cleats, who not so much lifted black players up, as exposed the insanity of their exclusion.
Heroes of the Negro Leagues, Mike Chiarello & Jack Morelli
Check the link on my “Books” page.
nytimes.com
Jackie Robinson was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1947, and won the NL MVP in 1949. This was his greatest season, hitting .342 with 16 home ruins, 124 RBI, and 37 stolen bases. The Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series in 1955, featuring Jackie’s iconic steal of home in Game 1.
The Major Leagues officially retired Jackie’s immortal number 42 and celebrates his legacy each April 15 to honor the anniversary of his first MLB game.
I highly recommend Ken Burns’s PBS documentary on Jackie Robinson. It still brings a tear to my eye when I think about Rachel Robinson telling the details of Jackie’s death from a heart attack at the age of 53.
I want to finish with some words from Joe Posnanski in The Athletic’s “The Baseball 100: A project celebrating the greatest players in history”, where he had Jackie at (appropriately) number 42.
He simply did everything. He hit. He walked. He hit for power (five seasons with a .500 or better slugging). He ran the bases like no one. He played fantastic defense. He was not regarded as a defensive star when he played, but his defensive numbers are consistently brilliant no matter what position he was playing — second, third, first, all of them.
Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100: No. 42, Jackie Robinson
…
In the end, he was going to succeed because he had to succeed. Human beings really are capable of such extraordinary things.
If you have not read this series, it is a great way to spend some time while we wait for baseball. The Athletic always offers free trials, and I think the annual subscription is well worth it.