FIGHTING FOR HISTORY
DJackie Robinson Ballpark targeted by MLB’s minor league contraction plan — and there’s no excuse for that
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If you were to put a face to Major League Baseball’s proposed plan to eliminate affiliation for 42 minor league teams, that face would belong to none other than Jackie Robinson. Imagine that. In its zest to declare war against the minor leagues, one of the 42 teams MLB is attempting to wipe off the face of the baseball planet after the 2020 season is the team that plays at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, a gorgeous little stadium on City Island along the Halifax River.
The Jack opened in 1914 as City Island Ball Park and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is home to the Daytona Tortugas, the Reds’ High-A affiliate in the Florida State League the past five years, after 22 years as a Cubs affiliate.
Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB picked the wrong fight. They picked the wrong number, too — wanting to eliminate 42 teams, including the Staten Island Yankees.
The No. 42 was Jackie’s number, of course, the number baseball celebrates every year on Jackie Robinson Day.
Rick French, one of the Tortugas’ three owners, is not going to let MLB destroy his team and the history of this special ballpark, where Jackie played his first professional game, the first racially integrated spring training game, on March 17, 1946, between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie’s Montreal Royals.
“This was the first time that a black man was able to cross that color barrier and play in an interracial professional game,’’ French told The Post. “It’s shocking that we would be on the list.
“We have a beautiful historic stadium that sits on an island, surrounded by water and palm trees, we’ve maintained the character of that ballpark.’’
That game helped set the stage for the next season, when Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Along with the city, the Tortugas’ owners have upgraded the field with artificial turf and a new video board.
“We’re second annually in our league in attendance [behind the much bigger city of Clearwater] and first in percentage of fans to overall capacity,’’ French said.
The Tortugas’ owners have done everything right, but that does not matter to Manfred and MLB. French and his fellow owners, Reese Smith III and Bob Fregolle, see themselves as caretakers for this historic park and have started a campaign #StandWithTheJack.
“We’re fighting for our community, but much more importantly, it is worth fighting for the soul of baseball,’’ French said. “If you are going to contract a team like Daytona, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and made all of this possible for all of these minority players in our sport, how do you look those players in the face and say that diversity and inclusion is important to us?’’
In 1946, Daytona Beach became Robinson’s spring training home because in nearby Sanford, where Dodgers minor leaguers trained, a racist mob essentially ran Robinson and another African-American player, named John Wright, out of town after two days.
Branch Rickey had his Dodgers training in Daytona Beach, so he brought the minor leaguers over here. In 1937, Rickey’s Cardinals trained here.
Two other Florida cities, Jacksonville and DeLand, also did not allow Jackie to play.
“In 1946, Daytona Beach was the only city in the south that allowed Jackie Robinson to play,’’ local historian Bill Schumann said. “These were the first fans to accept Jackie Robinson and integrated baseball. This was the first city when everybody else in the south said, ‘No.’ Daytona Beach stood alone.
“In Sanford there was an uproar from a group of white racists, they created a mob mentality and there was a real genuine threat of possible danger, so they left Sanford,’’ Schumann explained.
“This is a special ballpark and this minor league team is very precious. There is no place like this ballpark. It is so important because it’s about politics, it’s about sports, it’s about civil rights and it’s about a bunch of heroes who stood up for Jackie Robinson and today people are still inspired by that. It’s a living museum. Having a minor league team here helps people understand the history of Jackie Robinson and it educates minor league players who play here.
“When ballplayers go up to the plate at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, that plate is located in the same place where Jackie Robinson began his career. They can stand at the plate, they can look down and see where the ‘ Jim Crow’ section was, it’s a living part of history. Taking minor league baseball out of here is like ripping the heart out of this community, this is truly a special part of American history. Jackie Robinson is an inspiration to America. I am shocked that they would even think about taking minor league baseball out of here.’’
The ballpark also hosted the Dodgers for spring training in 1947, so this is the ballpark that put Robinson’s career in motion to end baseball segregation, crushing MLB’s odious color barrier forever on that April day.
The park remains true to its historical footprint. The grandstand sits right on top of the action. There are no better seats in all of minor league baseball. Out in right-center, the numbers 9 and the 42 are retired. Both represent Jackie.
“When Jackie played that game here in 1946, he didn’t wear 42, he wore the number 9,’’ Tortugas president Ryan Keur said on a perfect Dodgers blue sky day. “Three years ago on Jackie Robinson Day, we got approval from Minor [League] and Major League Baseball where everybody in Major League Baseball wears 42, our entire team wears the number 9.’’
The ballpark offers an informative “Breaking Barriers’’ display, including in the original “Jim Crow Section,’’ where African-American fans were cordoned off during games.
There was such a crowd that day in 1946 for Robinson that those fans spilled over into the “whites only’’ section. The 1,000 fans in the Jim Crow section wildly cheered Jackie, and he did get applause from the rest of the ballpark as well. That day offered hope.
In his 1948 book, “My Own Story,’’ Jackie wrote of that debut: “I knew, of course, that everybody wasn’t rooting for me to make good,
but I was sure now the whole world wasn’t lined up against me. When I went to sleep, the applause was still ringing in my ears.”
Just outside the gates of Jackie Robinson Ballpark is a powerful statue by Montreal artist Jules LaSalle of Jackie, who is wearing a Royals uniform. He is holding a baseball in his right hand and giving the ball to two children, who are gazing up into the future of baseball.
That statue, which was unveiled in 1990 by Jackie’s widow, Rachel Robinson, is a destination point for many fans.
“This statue shows the power of Jackie, what he meant to sports and society, bringing people together,’’ Keur said. “The ballpark and the statue are something that people are constantly visiting 365 days a year. This ballpark is a jewel. It is modernized for the fans, but we don’t want to lose any of the history.
“If this plan goes through it would be devastating for this community. We need to have affiliated minor league baseball here. When you think of the 150,000 people who walk through this ballpark each year, they are here for family entertainment.
“It’s really easy in an Excel document to delete a row of teams. It’s a lot harder when you think of the impact on 42 communities.’’ There is that number again. “The irony is not lost on us that they would put forward a list of 42 teams,’’ French said. “The fact is that every single year they honor his legacy. Now they are trampling his legacy by including Daytona on the list.”
French asked: “How do you grow the sport of baseball when you take the game of baseball away from these communities? These are people who developed their fandom because they get the chance to connect with the ballplayers and coaches.
“In the penny-wise and pound-foolish category, they are seriously risking their antitrust exemption. There are lawmakers who have made it very clear to them how they feel about this, people who have the ability to pull that exemption from them and I believe if they go through with this that is exactly what is going to happen. ...
“Forty-one million people attended minor league games last year and as you are touting that figure, you are talking about ripping the guts out of a quarter of your system.’’
The arrogance of MLB is on display. French offered this warning to the commissioner:
“This will be Rob Manfred’s epitaph one day, if this goes through,” he said. “This will be what he is remembered for, for helping to destroy the game of baseball by the decision to push this forward, telling 42 communities in states around the country that your fandom, your support of our game doesn’t matter. That will be his legacy.
“If that’s where he wants to rest, there is nothing any of us can do about that.
“You cannot honor Jackie Robinson every year and then turn around and say the place in which he first played, when other communities would not let him take the field, and Daytona did, this is on the National Register of Historic Places, we are one of the more important civil rights stops anywhere in the United States, and you are going to say that is not important to your history of your game, OK.”
Jackie Robinson would shed a tear.