Last Friday at PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates, as did the remainder of the MLB clubs around the National and American Leagues, “celebrated” the legacy of baseball legend, Jackie Robinson.
However, as far as I am concerned these continued “celebrations” of the accomplishments of a great man and athlete unintentionally play into the hands of the “make America great again” crowd.
Every time that we celebrate Jackie Robinson breaking the color bar it is an insidious reminder that there was a color bar existing that Jackie Robinson was forced to overcome in the first place.
Forty four years after the death of Mr. Robinson, there is a day put aside to honor his “contributions” to the sport of Major League Baseball. “Make America great again.” What exactly does that mean? Does going back to the days Jim Crow laws represent an era of greatness from our nation’s past?
No, we should all be determined to just make America greater and maintain her status as the most powerful nation in the world, not just on Jackie Robinson day or in the world of sports, but every day.
In 1947 approx. seven years before the historic Brown versus the Board of Education decision was rendered by the United States Supreme Court in 1954 declaring that schools and education should be equal but 62 years after that groundbreaking legal decision, education remains far from equal; how about crossing the barrier of ignorance and “poisoned” education?
Robinson became the first Black American allowed to participate in the Major Leagues of American professional baseball. He carried the torch for a generation of Blacks in the major professional sports after World War II, okay we all get that, yada, yada, yada. However, do you know how we can really make America greater? Well first by honoring the contributions of the present MLB players’ Black, White, Latino, Asian whatever their race may be, honoring all of them, while they are in their prime.
There should be celebrations around MLB every day when the players of both leagues wear the numbers of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Pittsburgh Pirates centerfielder Andrew McCutchen, Cincinnati Reds 1st baseman Joey Votto, Texas Rangers DH/1st baseman Prince Fielder, Miami Marlins 2nd baseman Devaris “Dee” Gordon, honoring their contributions of the present. I could go on and on and on….When society continues to individualize anything, does it dilute or diminish the contributions of those of the present?
I want to see some league wide Ty Cobb celebrations and some Honus Wagner celebrations. We are in this thing together. Baseball is America’s pastime. Remember how basketball evolved to a Black cultural phenomenon in the 1970s through the 1990s? People tend to forget the contributions of certain players because of the effect that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and now the newest member of “the greatest ever” Steph Curry have had and continue to have on professional basketball.
I remember seeing Rick Barry throw up what would be four and five point shots in this day and age. Jerry West and Bob Cousy could handle the “rock” and pick apart a defense on the basketball court with the best of them. So to me it is a bunch of baloney to continue to keep us separated from “the greatness of all.”
Separate but equal, no separate and unequal.
We play right into the hands of the preservationists’ and the ultra-right wing conservatives when we continue, day after day, month after month, year after year and decade after decade trying to breathe new life into the skeletons of the past as opposed to being in the delivery room, assisting in the birth of and ushering in a new generation of Jackie Robinsons and Bob Cousys. Every living MLB player, Black or White should just be honored to bring the “spirit of competition to the baseball diamond because anything less than that represents no more than polishing a tombstone until it gleams. We may see a headstone gleaming from 2 miles away but we must remember that the one resting under it can no longer see the light or feel the warmth of the sun.
Aubrey Bruce is the Senior Sports Columnist of the New Pittsburgh Courier. He can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412.583.6741
Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe
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