Teammates

Jackie Robinson, the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947, would have celebrated his 100th birthday just a few days ago, on January 31, 2019.  Aside from that incredible accomplishment (more on that later), Mr. Robinson was an incredible baseball player.  During his 10-year career playing for the Dodgers, Robinson won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was named an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1948, and played in six World Series (winning it all in 1955), and was inducted into the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.  One can only imagine how his career would have gone if he had played more than 10 years, as many professional baseball players do today.  After his death in 1972, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his jersey number "42" on every professional baseball team - no one playing on any team will ever wear the number "42" ever again (except on Jackie Robinson Day, celebrated every year on April 15th, the day that he made his Major League debut, when every single player on every single team wears that number)! 

There is a well known story, perhaps made famous by the 2013 movie about Jackie Robinson, "42" starring Chadwick Boseman that involves both Robinson and the Hall of Fame Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese.  The incident reportedly occurred at Crosley Field, home (at that time) of the Cincinnati Reds and the southernmost (again, at that time) professional baseball team playing in the major leagues on June 21, 1947.  It was Robinson's first game playing in Cincinnati.  The crowd was yelling vicious and hateful racist slurs against Robinson as the Dodgers took the field.  The crowd was also yelling at Reese, who had grown up in the South near Louisville, Kentucky, calling him "Traitor!" and "Carpetbagger!"  Reese finally walks over across the infield towards Robinson, who is playing first base.  The scene, as depicted in the movie goes like this:

Robinson: "What's up?"

Reese:  "They can say what they want; we're here to play baseball."

Robinson: "Just a bunch of crackpots still fighting the Civil War."

Reese: "Hell, we'd have won that son of a gun if the cornstalks had held out.  We just ran out of ammunition."

Robinson (laughing):  "Better luck next time, Pee Wee."

Pee Wee Reese puts his arm around Jackie Robinson.

Reese:  "Ain't gonna be a next time.  All we got is right now.  This right here.  Know what I mean?"

Crowd looks shocked and horrified that Reese has his arm around Robinson.

Reese: "Thank you, Jackie."

Robinson: "What're you thanking me for?"

Reese: "I've got family here from Louisville up there somewhere.  I need them to see who I am."


It's a great scene.  There is a statue in Brooklyn showing Reese with his arm around Robinson.


There's even a plaque on the former Crosley Field site (now the site of the City Gospel Mission) in Cincinnati, Ohio at the exact spot where "the embrace" is said to have occurred.  The problem is that the event probably never occurred, at least how the scene was depicted in the movie.  There are no known photographs of the event, nor are there any published news stories found describing what had happened.  Neither Pee Wee Reese nor Jackie Robinson could pinpoint the actual event, but both described something like it.  It probably occurred in 1948 (Robinson's second season), and may not have even happened in Cincinnati.

Regardless, it is a great story.  Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, was present at the statue's dedication in Brooklyn in 2005.  She said, "It's a historic symbol of a wonderful legacy of friendship, of teamwork, of courage -- of a lot of things we hope we will be able to pass on to young people. And we hope they will be motivated by it, be inspired by it and think about what it would be like to stand up, dare to challenge the status quo and find a friend there who will come over and support you."

Regardless of the exact details of "the embrace", no truer words have been spoken.  It is a timeless story of friendship, teamwork, and courage.  And it is a story that we need to hear, over and over, today.