Jackie Robinson Day

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

   Today around the MLB, every player is wearing a jersey with a 42 on it. If you happened to catch a game, you may have wondered if the jersey manufacturers had gone on strike or if there was some freak mishap. After all the Nationals did, once, have to wear jerseys with 'Natinals' on it....   
     But no, the reason everyone has the same jersey number is to recognize the work of Jackie Robinson, who played his first game in the Majors 65 years ago today. Even non-sports fans know who Jackie is; the first African-American player to play in the Majors. Crushing the door open to all races and leading baseball into a more fair- and competitive- sport. The impact that Mr. Robinson had on baseball, sports in general, and the culture cannot be overstated. More importantly, we can all learn from his example, especially in today's interesting culture. What I want to do in this post is to examine his impact on baseball, especially with a sabermetric perspective, and then examine his role in society today.

     This might sound heartless, but if Jackie had not succeeded, there is no telling how long that may have set back the plight of marginalized races in sports. As the great sportswriter Joe Posnanski wrote, "If he failed, the bigots were right. If he failed, the cause was stalled. If he failed… well, he could not fail." Jackie did not fail. He struggled through all the digusting, blatant rascism thrown at him. He had to resist the urge to fight back. As Branch Rickey, the GM who called Robinson to the Dodgers, said to him, "Robinson, I'm looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back." In other words, Mr. Robinson had to not only stay classier than anyone else on (and off) the field, but he also had to be excellent at his job. Did he succeed?       Um.... YES! Seriously. We often talk about his contributions to breaking the color barrier, but he did it while being a hell of a ballplayer. His first season he slashed 0.297/0.383/0.427, not only good stats for a rookie but also for a 2nd baseman. Not to mention that his career line of 0.311/0.409/0.474 is impressive in every sense. His total WAR (62.7) ranks him 14th all time among 2nd basemen, higher than famous players like Tony Lazzeri, Nellie Fox, Ryne Sandberg and Jeff Kent. Oh and yes, he only played 10 seasons. If he had been able to come up earlier, he easily could have had a higher talent ceiling, especially since his highest WAR season (an incredible 10.0) was in his 3rd season, signaling what should have been the prime of his career. For the even bigger nerds, please note that he only struck out 5.0% of his plate appearances (that is unbelievably low) and holds the 5th highest all-time WRC+ (league adjusted Runs Created) for 2nd basemen with 5,500 total career PAs. (Translation, that kid could FREAKING hit.)  So yes, he performed with incredible excellence. This excellence opened the game for players like Roberto Clemente who credited Robinson with showing him that anyone of any race could play America's game. The same Clemente who died delivering supplies to earthquake victims, and has an award for MLB community service named after him. Baseball is better, both in talent and personnel because of Jackie.      
       So what about his lasting impact? Can we learn anything from his story? I would argue that we need his story more than ever. As a country, we are still racially divided and we seem to only use his story to talk about his breaking the color barrier. Recently, several sports commentators compared Cam Newton to Jackie. That comparison is so ludicrous, I don't want to even dignify it with a comment. (As the writer of the blog I linked to said, "That comparison is like comparing me to Frederick Douglas.")     
      I think we have largely missed the point of Jackie Robinson. He stood for more than just sports. He stood for equality. He stood for class and grace despite overwhelming odds, fierce bigotry, and people wanting him to fail. I'm not saying that we all face the odds he did (thanks to him, in many ways!) but we can learn from his calmness under pressure, his undeterred spirit in the face of hatred, and his professional manner of energy and excellence.      
       As you think about his legacy, I encourage you to do several things. One, thank God for how far we have come in this country. We are a much better, fairer country because of people like him who refused to listen to the loud cultural voices around him. Two, stop the crazy, inflated racial issues. Seriously. Jackie Robinson played under conditions so bad that I don't want to type them. Do your own research and feel disgusted by how some fans treated him. See my first lesson and stop playing the race card on things that trivialize his efforts. Stop pretending that this country is not more fair for all races than what it used to be. Third, fix the bigotry and inequality around you. As much as I want to say we are a post-racial culture, we are not. I live in Winston-Salem, one of the most segregated cities in the country. Racial inequality, while better than in the 50s, is still very much a social evil. What am I doing to bridge racial divides, heal cultural wounds, and become more culturally relevant? What about you? We, of all races, need to stop being selfish and desire to learn how we can care about everyone, not just those like us. If we can do that more effectively, Jackie Robinson's legacy will be that much sweeter.