felt this was thread worthy especially on the day we honor him... Black baseball pioneers aided King's message by Richard Justice, MLB.com | 01/21/2013 2:54 AM ET Martin Luther King Jr. with Jackie Robinson There they stood, Pee Wee Reese's arm draped casually over Jackie Robinson's shoulder. And the world became a little bit better place. "Something in my gut reacted to the moment," Reese would tell The New York Times some 50 years later. "Something about -- what? -- the unfairness of it? The injustice of it? I don't know." It was 1947 or 1948 during (or just before) a Dodgers-Reds game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, and Robinson was enduring some of the ugliest taunts -- profanities, racial slurs, threats -- he would hear. Reese had taken a more private stand for Robinson at the beginning of Spring Training in 1947 by refusing to sign a petition protesting the presence of a black player. And then that day in Cincinnati he could listen to the hatred no longer. His gesture quieted the crowd and sent a message to his Brooklyn Dodger teammates who were still uncomfortable with Robinson. That a son of the Deep South would offer his very public acceptance of baseball's first black player became a seminal moment, not just in baseball history, but in the American civil rights movement. Actually, it might have begun right there in Cincinnati, rather than in a Birmingham, Ala., jail in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. outlined the battle to come with: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."Robinson with teammates Don Newcombe and Roy CampanellaKing would later tell Robinson and other black baseball pioneers -- Larry Doby, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, others -- how much he admired them for their courage and for how they'd changed the country and helped clear a path for all who would follow. A few weeks before King was killed in 1968, he told Newcombe, "You'll never know how easy you and Jackie and Doby and Campy made it for me to do my job by what you did on the baseball field." Newcombe remembered those comments during a 2009 interview with the New York Post's Peter Vecsey. "Imagine, here is Martin getting beaten with billy clubs, bitten by dogs and thrown in jail, and he says we made his job easier," Newcombe told Vecsey. And so on this day in which we honor King and pause to remember the men and women who suffered and sacrificed in the name of racial fairness, Major League Baseball should be proud of its role in forcing people to see the world in a way they'd never seen it before. Perhaps that's Robinson's most important legacy: He changed a game, and along the way, he helped change the world. He didn't just open doors for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and the hundreds who followed in his footsteps. Nor did he simply help make the Major Leagues possible for Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal and other Latino players. He did way more than that. There were countless battles still to be fought in the civil rights movement, battles over schools and restaurants, over hotels and housing, when Robinson played his final game for the Dodgers in 1956. But the battle was joined right there on a baseball diamond in 1947. Commissioner Bud Selig proudly calls baseball "a social institution," and as he often says, with that label comes the responsibility to always try and do the right thing. This Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a moment to salute King's courage and his dream. But it's about the foot soldiers, too. It's about Jackie Robinson, who made the world a better place by having the guts to put on a uniform and endure incomprehensible ugliness. He did it because he saw an opportunity to strike at racism's ignorance and cruelty. It's about Frank Robinson, who became the game's first black manager and opened doors for Cito Gaston, Dusty Baker and others. It's about Bill Lucas and Bob Watson and Kenny Williams and others, who as front-office executives showed there should be no ceiling on black men and women in baseball. Sure, there's still work to be done. Racial fairness is a constant battle. It's why Selig retired Jackie Robinson's No. 42 and why Major League Baseball sets a day aside each season to honor him. It's a way to keep his memory alive, to tell his story again and again and to be inspired by his courage and his grace. And today as we celebrate one American hero, we remember another. He, too, lives forever. ___
who can you pick out of the photo below? i see landreaux, ferrera, bobby castillo, moeller and tim leary not sure who 30, 34 and 48 are... Dodgers alums kick off caravan painting murals By Quinn Roberts | MLB.comJanuary 21, 2013 | 6:46 pm ETDodgers alums painted three murals Monday, including a Jackie Robinson-inspired Dodgers mural. (Ben Platt/MLB.com) LOS ANGELES -- Former Dodgers center fielder Ken Landreaux has never considered himself much of an artist, but on Monday at Belmont High School, he had plenty of brushes in his hands. "I don't think I've painted like this since elementary school, but I'm doing my best and having a fun time," said Landreaux. The retired outfielder, along with nine other Dodgers alumni, kicked off the 10th annual community caravan, "Pitching in the Community," by painting murals at the high school, which sits just 10 minutes from Dodger Stadium. Participating in the day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the group painted three murals in one of the school's stairwells, including a Jackie Robinson-inspired Dodgers mural. "It is great to be in a place like this and do the service that Dr. King asked us to do many years ago," former Dodgers outfielder Al Ferrara said. "As far as the painting though, I may be in a little bit of trouble. When I was in high school, I flunked a drawing class. I'm trying to make amends." Brushes, buckets and paint cans were spread out across Belmont High School by the non-profit group City Year so 1,000 volunteers could help paint 60 murals. Former Dodgers pitcher Joe Moeller had the important job of painting the sky blue in the Robinson mural. He managed to stay within the lines even while painting with an oversized brush in a crowded stairwell. And while a few drops of paint did spill on Moeller's hands, he made sure that his World Series championship ring remained spotless. "To get all of these volunteers out here is a pretty amazing feat," Moeller said. "I wasn't really sure what this would entail, but I'm managing. "It's just fun to be here and joke around with a lot of guys I played with or against." Many representatives from the high school and school board were also on hand to share their stories and give thanks to the volunteers. "It's great to be able to honor Dr. King in this way, and we embrace the Dodgers for helping in this way," Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Monica Garcia said. "We are so pleased that Belmont can be a place of inspiration." The caravan, presented by JCPenney, will continue on Tuesday at the Southeast YMCA in Huntington Park, where Dodgers alumni will engage in storybook reading to preschoolers. "The Dodgers have always been a team about the community. This is L.A.'s team. We want to continue to do great things off the field," said Renata Simril, Dodgers senior vice president of external affairs. "Having the Dodger alumni come out to paint a Dodger mural of Jackie Robinson on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on the day that President Obama is getting inaugurated for a second term means a lot. It shows that civil rights and human dignity are continuing." ___
