Robinson statue will be unveiled by Dodgers

A statue of Jackie Robinson will be unveiled today at Dodger Stadium on the 70th anniversary of his major league debut as the game's first black player. Robinson's widow, Rachel, will attend the ceremony.

He was the first black man to play in the major leagues, ending six decades of racial segregation, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Fittingly, Jackie Robinson is the first to be honored with a statue at Dodger Stadium. It will be unveiled today on the 70th anniversary of his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Two years ago on Jackie Robinson Day, owner and chairman Mark Walter suggested a sculpture belonged at Dodger Stadium of the six-time AllStar second baseman who starred when the team was in Brooklyn.

“He just felt it was an idea whose time had come,” said Janet Marie Smith, the team’s senior vice president of planning and development.

The 77-inch tall bronze statue depicts Robinson as a rookie in 1947 sliding into home plate, a nod to his aggressive base running. It weighs 700 pounds and is secured with a 150-pound steel rod. It stands in the left field reserve plaza, with sweeping views of downtown Los Angeles in one direction and Elysian Park in the other.

Smith said the location was chosen because it’s where the majority of fans enter the hillside ballpark that opened 55 years ago.

On the statue’s granite base are three of Robinson’s quotes as chosen by the family, including wife Rachel’s favorite: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” “Our goal was to both celebrate Jackie Robinson as an athlete and to acknowledge the important role he had in civil rights and social change in America,” Smith said.

The family shared numerous photos of Robinson with sculptor Branly Cadet of Oakland, California.

“They really wanted me to get the likeness and I assured them I’d be working very hard on that,” he said. “That was the element I spent the most time on to capture an expression that would be happening in that moment.”

Now 94, Rachel Robinson is traveling from the East Coast to attend the unveiling, along with daughter Sharon and son David. Their other son, Jackie Jr., died in a car accident in 1971.

Also invited are about 50 members of Robinson’s extended family, the majority from his late brother Mack’s side of the family in nearby Pasadena. That’s where the Georgia-born Jackie grew up and first became a four-sport standout in football, basketball, track and baseball at John Muir High. He played all four sports at Pasadena City College before going on to UCLA.

“This is going to be a very special time,” Sharon Robinson said. “My dad was a humble person and here he is 70 years later being recognized. He used to come home and say, ‘I got a standing ovation today,’ and he would be so shocked.”