Mike Piazza plays the drums in the basement of Dodger Stadium in May 1998. (VJ Lovero)
GALLERY: Rare Photos of Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza was in a Goo Goo Dolls cover band during his days with the Mets.
Jackie Robinson leaves Ebbets Field after playing opening day with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
I told a version this story in “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America,” which is about my year of traveling around the country with the great Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues player and manager, brilliant scout for the Cubs, the first African American coach in Major League Baseball and the living&
I don’t know if any of you guys saw this video of Tony Gwynn Jr. being heckled in 2011, but it’s hilarious.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. This decision would not only integrate baseball, but would help the country work to achieve equal rights for all. Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., once commented to baseball pitcher Don Newcombe, “Don, you and Jackie will never know how easy you made my job, through what you went through on the baseball field.”
Before becoming famous, Lt. Jack R. Robinson was court-martialed at Camp Hood, Texas, because he refused to move to the back of the bus after being told to do so by a bus driver and disobeying an order from a superior officer. Robinson was acquitted of all charges and received an honorable discharge, but this was not the only experience he would have in fighting discrimination.
After retiring from baseball, Robinson turned much of his attention to civil rights issues. He wrote to several Presidents about the cause, and even attended the March on Washington.
Many of these milestone events from Robinson’s life are documented in primary sources from the National Archives.
via The Rest of 42’s Story: Jackie Robinson as Civil Rights Activist
FJP: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,” Robinson wrote in his autobiography. “I cannot possibly believe I have it made while so many of my black brothers and sisters are hungry, inadequately housed, insufficiently clothed, denied their dignity as they live in slums or barely exist on welfare.”
HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 09: Widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson, Rachel Robinson (L) and actor Chadwick Boseman attend the after party for the Los Angeles premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “42” on April 9, 2013 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
via afro-art-chick: mode7
Zach Greinke has a broken collar bone because of that idiot Carlos Quentin. Dodgers twitter may have had this to say. I choose a different quote.
