A HOME RUN FIT FOR A HERO
On the 74th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut in the major leagues, the Dodgers’ Justin Turner rounds the bases after hitting a three-run homer against Colorado. Robinson’s great-niece, Sachi Hamilton, works as an usher at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers would take the field in a few minutes, but first Jackie Robinson had a few things to say. On the giant video board above left field, Robinson came to life, in newsreels and pictures and interviews.
“I got chills,” said the usher working Section 16 on the field level.
Robinson is an almost mythical figure these days, an American hero and a baseball legend, a page of history to which the major leagues turn every April 15. The last words he spoke in the Dodgers’ video Thursday, from his speech at the 1972 World Series, remain topical and urgent today.
“I’m extremely proud and pleased to be here this afternoon,” Robinson said that day, “but must admit I am going to be tremendously more pleased and more proud when I look at that third-base coaching line one day and see a Black face managing in baseball.”
Robinson died nine days later. When Jackie Robinson Day arrives next year, Robinson himself will have been gone for 50 years. There is no shortage of others to tell his story, but to see him and hear him in a major league ballpark, even on video, commands unusual attention.
The usher wore a green polo shirt, with the words “Dodgers Guest Services.” For her, the video was a family scrapbook, a chance to hear from a relative she never got to meet.
In Section 16, the usher is Jackie Robinson’s greatniece.
There is the grand legacy of Robinson, for a sport and for a country. There also is a charming family heritage at Dodger Stadium: his brother worked as an usher here, and then his niece, and now his great-niece.
“Every time I come, I clock in for work, and I see his picture all over the place,” Sachi Hamilton said. “I have to remind myself this is my legacy.
“I love coming here. It makes my day. I go home happy.”
Hamilton dropped her two kids off with her mother, Kathy Robinson Young. Hamilton went to work, and Young took the kids to meet Mookie Betts, David Price and Dave Roberts.
Young calls the annual celebration “Uncle Jackie Day.”
He retired before she was born, and she was 14 when he passed, so her memories are off the field: visiting his home, watching him ride the giant lawnmower, scurrying inside for giant pink boxes filled with doughnuts and pastries.
She was sitting in her car Thursday, in the stadium parking lot, three hours before game time.
“Trying to calm myself down,” she said. “When I get into the stadium and see