Baseball celebrates Robinson
It’s the 77th anniversary of breaking color barrier
Major League Baseball marked the 77 th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the sport’s color barrier on Monday.
Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, beginning the end of the racial segregation that had relegated Black players to the Negro Leagues for decades.
“Jackie Robinson became the most vilified, targeted subject of verbal abuse and malicious treatment in the sports arena since Jack Johnson had the audacity to become heavyweight champion of the world in 1908,” sociologist and civil rights activist Harry Edwards said at Dodger Stadium. “Like Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson stood alone.”
Members of Robinson’s family, including his 101-year-old widow, were at ballparks from coastto-coast to honor him.
At Citi Field, Rachel Robinson rode in a golf cart to the Mets dugout, where she was given flowers by manager Carlos Mendoza, and retired players Mookie Wilson and Butch Huskey, the last Mets player to wear Robinson’s No. 42.
“She's the legacy of perseverance," said David Robinson, the youngest son of Jackie and Rachel Robinson.
Every team playing Monday wore No. 42 jerseys.
Yankees lose second straight
Chris Bassitt pitched into the seventh inning to win his second straight start, Alejandro Kirk reached base three times and the Blue Jays beat the Yankees, 3-1, at Toronto, handing New York consecutive losses for the first time this season.
New York (12-5) lost, 8-7, at Cleveland on Sunday when the Guardians scored three runs in the 10th.
The Yankees lost a series-opening game for the second time in six tries, with both defeats coming against the Blue Jays. Toronto won, 3-0, in New York’s home opener on April 5.
Bassitt (2-2) allowed one run and four hits in 6‚ innings. The righthander walked two and struck out five, ending his outing by fanning Gleyber Torres.
Yankees broadcaster retires
Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling announced his immediate retirement at age 85, a few weeks into his 34th season in New York's broadcast booth.
Sterling had cut back his schedule in recent years and was not with the team for its trip to Houston and Toronto.
He called 5,420 regular-season games, the last against the Blue Jays on April 7, plus 211 postseason games. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019 after starting with the Yankees as a pregame host.
Sterling will be honored in a pregame ceremony before Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay.
Mullins catch, HR saves Orioles
Cedric Mullins saved a run with an exceptional diving catch in deep left-center, then homered and drove in three runs for the Orioles in a 7-4 victory over the Twins at Baltimore.
As expected after this kind of performance, he was asked which contribution he appreciated more.
“The fellas say the catch was No. 1 that they've seen,” Mullins responded. “I'm going to take their word for it.”
Jordan Westburg drove in two runs during his third career three-hit day, which came two days after his second. Ryan O’Hearn and Gunnar Henderson also homered for the Orioles, who have won five of their six series openers.
Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save. It was the 421st save of Kimbrel's career — one short of Billy Wagner for seventh alltime — and the veteran's first time recording saves on back-to-back days for Baltimore.
Trout’s home run paces Angels
Mike Trout’s two-run homer highlighted a fiverun outburst in the eighth inning and the Angels beat the Rays, 7-3, at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Trout gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with his seventh homer, a 111.1 m.p.h., 420-foot shot down the left-field line off Pat Maton (0-1). Matt Thaiss extended the Angels' lead to 5-1 with three-run double.
Taylor Ward added a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Kevin Kelly, extending the Los Angeles lead to 7-3. The 30-year-old outfielder has 19 RBIs this season.
Reliever Luis Garcia (1-0) worked an inning and earned the win.
Tampa Bay entered with the highest bullpen ERA in the majors at 6.23.
Astros’ Verlander debut soon?
Astros ace Justin Verlander will throw a side session Tuesday, and if that goes well he’ll make his season debut this weekend at Washington against the Nationals.
Houston manager Joe Espada wouldn’t say which game of the series Verlander would start. The three-game set begins Friday night.
“He’s in a good spot,” Espada said. “He feels good. He feels confident. He wants to contribute. He knows that we need him on the mound, we need his presence and right now and he’s right where he needs to be.”