Rachel Robinson Receives Flowers From The Mets
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
On April 15th Major League Baseball celebrated the 77-year anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier when he debuted for the Dodgers in Brooklyn in 1947. Robinson integrated MLB before a black athlete played in the NFL or NBA. These days both of those leagues have much more African American athletes than MLB where they account for just 8% of the players. Several Major League teams do not have one on their 25-man rosters.
At Citi Field the Mets hosted the Robinson family, which included Jackie’s widow Rachel Robinson, who is 101 years of age. Robinson’s grandson Busto Robinson threw out the ceremonial first pitch to former Met Butch Huskey who wore #42 for the Mets the night commissioner Bud Selig, then President Bill Clinton, and Rachel Robinson showed up to Shea Stadium in 1997 and announced that Jackie’s #42 would be retired throughout Major League Baseball. Huskey was proud to wear #42 for the Mets. “Just everything he went through to give me an opportunity to play the game without all the other stuff that he went through so all the other players of color didn’t have to deal with what he had to.” Huskey said.
