Thank You Jackie Robinson

Every year on this day I like to stop and think about what one man had to go through so that baseball could be the sport that we see today. It is hard to believe that it took until 1947 for us to be able to truly see the best baseball players playing against each other. It really hurts my brain to try and think of reasons why that was. Skin color is just such an arbitrary thing to choose to be against. If there had been an unwritten rule that kept people with hazel eyes out of baseball it would have been just as crazy to me. If you take a look at the Major League Baseball record books you will see that Jackie opened the doors for a lot of men that would set some MLB records. What if he didn’t have to do that though. Man it would have been great to see how Josh Gibson stacked up against the best of the best. What would Satchel Paige have done against the best hitters in his prime? We will never know the answers to these questions because of stupid people. Those first ballplayers did not have it easy. On this day we think about Jackie, but there are many others as well. Larry, Minnie, Hank, Roy, Monte, and Don to name a few paved the way for the game that we see today. Man, you have to tip your cap to all of them. When I was a kid we got these things called newspaper every day. I would always look through the box scores as I ate my breakfast. In that box score you had all of the stats that were important for the game. You had hits, rbi’s, and most importantly runs scored. Nowhere in that box score did it say the players race. Harold Baines and Carlton Fisk looked the same in print. If only life were as easy as the box score.

Finding The Number 42

Every year I make a point to photograph the number 42 when I see it on the field. Over the years many Boilers have donned the number making it easy for me to do often at Alexander Field. It has become a more rare number as leagues and teams have retired it so it is a fun game for me to play as the baseball season moves on. This might be one of my favorite photos that I have made on this side project.