Last week, I went and saw the film “42” while on a date with my girlfriend. Aside from some minor historical inaccuracies, the film was fantastic.
For those of you who do not know the movie is about Jackie Robinson who was the first Major League Baseball player in the modern era who happened to be black; there were a handful of blacks who played in the majors before this, but none had been in the bigs in over a generation.
The film had an all-star cast and included some cities and stadiums that, though I’ve only seen pictures of, are among my favorites in the history of baseball: The Polo Grounds in New York City, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Shibe Park in Philadelphia, and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
Jackie stayed in Sanford, Fla. at one point during the movie. For those that have not read my previous columns over the past two years, Sanford holds a special place in my heart in spite of the negative press it has recently received. It is the seat of Seminole County, where I grew up in, it is the home of the Community College I attended to get my Associates Degree, and is also home to Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. While leaving Sanford, Robinson passes the old downtown clock located at First Street and French Avenue, hats off to historic detail.
One inaccuracy in the movie was that it insinuated that Robinson played a Spring Training game in Sanford; unfortunately that never occurred in Seminole County and Robinson broke the color barrier in neighboring Volusia County. However Sanford native Red Barber was featured throughout the film as the radio announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, yes you read that correctly they played in Brooklyn before moving to Los Angeles.
Another inaccuracy occurred in the beginning scenes of the movie when a Dodgers representative meets the Kansas City Monarch’s, Negro League team that Robinson played for, along a road in Missouri. The location that was given was Interstate 24, there were no interstate highways, in sense that we know them, in the mid 1940s and their construction was about a decade away, but that is just nitpicking on my part.
There were some points during the film that I was ashamed to be white, such as when the Philadelphia Phillies manager was verbally abusing Robinson. As well as the racism exhibited in Sanford; I reckon some “traditions” die hard.
I do not know what it is like to be black, however one of the bright points of the movie was seeing a black family with a seven or eight year old child entering the theatre. The father was explaining to his kid that this is the way it was, and because of Robinson’s courage it is not as bad now. There were cheers when Jackie got his first hit, home run, and other good baseball plays.
I work at Tropicana Field, and the Tampa Bay Rays are our major tenant. While working a home game on Friday night against the Oakland Athletics I noticed the amount of black players on both rosters. Some of the best players on the Tampa Bay’s roster are black: Desmond Jennings and Fernando Rodney. Coco Crisp of the Athletics put on a show while on the base paths during the first inning.
What a shame it would be if these players would not be allowed to play in MLB because of the color of their skin and were forced to play in another league. At one point during the film the Dodgers’ manager says something along the lines of “Robinson is just the first, there are more coming.”
And more came; blacks in baseball reached a peak in 1960s and 1970s. Some of the sport’s greatest athletes were black: Bob Gibson, Satchel Paige, Ozzie Smith, Ken Griffey Junior, Frank Thomas, Ernie Banks, Barry Bonds (even before the steroids), Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Josh Gibson, Tony Gwynn, Ricky Henderson, and Reggie Jackson just to name a few.
The sport is better because these gentlemen played in the majors. Hopefully they will provide inspiration for young blacks to continue to play baseball, which at the profession levels is seeing lower numbers than in the 1970s.
All of these players have one thing in common, they would not have had the opportunity if it was not for the courage of Jackie Robinson.
