Putting what he endured into perspective
It' too bad the Orioles had one of their worst outings of the year on Jackie Robinson Day.
Obviously not every team is able to win on April 15th, but the Birds lopsided loss to the Blue Jays last night was not only tough to watch, but tough to broadcast under the circumstances.
MASN announcers Gary Thorne, Buck Martinez and I were in the compromising position of trying to deliver an upbeat, heartfelt tribute to a baseball pioneer while, at the same time, calling the plays of a grueling, drawn-out Orioles loss. It was an odd dynamic, and the depressing happenings of the early innings somewhat overshadowed the tribute to Robinson.
That aside, I spent a lot of time throughout the game thinking about Jackie Robinson and tried to imagine the emotional abuse he endured on this day 61-years ago. It must have been horrible, and it made me sad to think one man alone had to take the brunt of such ugliness.
I think we all need to imaging ourselves in Robinson's shoes. What would we have done? Would we have had the inner strength to turn the other cheek or would we have crumbled? Better yet, put yourself in the shoes of his white teammates. What would you have done? Would you have had the guts to do what's right? Would you have had the moral character to defy the opinions of racist fans who you knew would turn on you, and still put your arm around Robinson as Pee Wee Reese did?
We can learn a lot by empathizing with those who came before us.
Some of us are lucky enough to have never experienced bigotry, but the world isn't perfect and unfortunately it still exists---albeit at a much smaller scale than what Robinson experienced in the 1940's.
Last week when the Orioles were in Texas, I was told by a Rangers Ball Park security guard that "women are not allowed in the clubhouse." Even after showing the man my media credential, he repeated the line again. As I walked past him without saying a word, he said "shame on you."
It wasn't the first time I experienced blatant sexism in this business, but the incident really hurt and infuriated me. Robinson received death threats---and I was bent out of shape by one stupid comment. It kind of puts what he endured into perspective. Nobody should have to live through the hate he did. Thankfully for all of us---he did. He made it better for everybody who followed---now that's a life worth living and celebrating.
Amber, I'm very glad to see you write about baseball history - especially history as important as the Jackie Robinson saga (including the Pee Wee Reese gesture in Cincinnati that played such a large part in putting this in its proper place).
But it's important to note that Branch Rickey, the GM who signed him for the Dodgers, signed him primarily for his ability NOT to fight back (there were other Negro League players considered to be slightly better ballplayers). Rickey felt that it was a two front war: he needed a very good player, but that it would greatly set back the cause were he to take off after a racist fan in the stands.
Just as an FYI, Robinson - who played against the Orioles in the International League - once said that Baltimore was the most racist town in which he ever played outside of the deep south.
Amber, i just started reading your blogs, and i think your doing a great job, it was a shame that the O's lost on Jackie Robinson day,i watched that game and the Blue Jays just kept scoring and i said to myself, this isn't good, i wasn't around back when Jackie played(i'm only 24), but what he went through is amazing, not many people could take the criticism that he did, i think that the people who disliked him were very rude! evryone should be thought of as equals. As for that security guard in texas goes, you did the right thing by walking away and not saying anything, but he shouldn't have added the "shame on you" part, when i read that i said to myself, why would he say that to you, i think your a great person and you didn't deserve to be talked to like that!
Great post Amber. Really puts things into perspective. I hope we as a society can continue to make strides when it comes to race.