Memories of Jackie Robinson
Most kids my age who loved baseball probably had a favorite Jackie Robinson memory growing up, I certainly did. On April 15,1947, Jackie became the first Black American Major League Baseball player in 74 years. On Thursday, every Major League player, coach and even umpire wore his Brooklyn Dodger number 42 as a tribute to this great American who served in the U.S. military and was also an outstanding basketball, track, baseball and football player at the Univer- sity of California.
Jackie Robinson soon became an All-Star player and one of the most respected citizens in America, although he still had to face persecution and racial bias. I first encountered Jackie Robinson around 1949 or 1950. A couple of young kids from the South Boston Boys Club were given a job for The old Record-American newspaper, which usually hit the streets in the late afternoon. We would meet the delivery truck at Braves Field, grab our papers and start selling them to the Braves baseball fans throughout the park. It was a great job, earning a few dollars for my father who had been in a tuberculosis hospital for a few years, and we could see all the Braves home games.
After the games, I would wait outside the Braves and visitors locker rooms to get the players’ autographs. The Dodgers were the best team in the league and had some great players, Jackie Robinson being the best. After I waited outside his locker room for an hour or so, Robinson finally came out holding a big equipment duffle bag. I approached him and said, “Mr. Robinson can I please have your autograph?” He signed several more. I then asked him if I could watch his equipment bag. When he was finished, I was still holding onto it. I knew all the players would walk up to Commonwealth Avenue and grab a cab to the hotel, so I said, “Mr. Robinson, can I please carry your bag up to the cab stand? When we got to the cab stand, Jackie reached into his pocket and took out a couple of dollars to give me. “No thanks, Mr. Robinson, it was an honor to carry your bag.”
Well, about three weeks later the Brooklyn Dodgers were back in town again, and I was standing outside the visitors locker room at Braves Field. Before he started to sign autographs, he once again handed me his equipment bag. He apparently remembered me from the Dodgers’ last trip to Boston.
That’s not the end of my Jackie Robinson story. When I was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, I spoke at a business seminar in New York with New York City Mayor David Dinkins. He had heard the story about my Jackie Robinson experience.
After the seminar, we traveled over to Jackie Robinson’s home in a nearby Connecticut town where the Robinsons lived. Robinson wasn’t well at the time, but he remembered me from earlier days at Braves Field.
I’ve worked with popes, presidents and prime ministers, but having the privilege of meeting Jackie Robinson, a wonderful, kind man, was one of the highlights of my life.