Results tagged ‘ Jackie Robinson ’
Ian, meet Jackie
Out of all the guys wearing No. 42 on Wednesday, and all of them were, nobody could have honored Jackie Robinson quite the way Ian Kinsler did: He played second base, and was absolutely brilliant, historic even.
Talking 6-for-6 and a cycle. Jackie never did that. Heck, that’s never been done in the same game. Well, not since 1890, and that’s never enough.
And in a moment of startling clarity (kidding, of course), our own TR Sullivan put together quite the comparison before the game that shows, well, Ian’s pretty much Jackie so far, numbers-wise. Kind of freaky, actually.
The only thing Ian could have done better to honor Jackie was steal home.
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Not just a new face,
A new place in Bronx this spring –
Zero titles there
Take a day, JR
Some might think it’s a little much, taking a day to celebrate one player, one man. Some might think it’s enough already that No. 42 is retired, so everybody wearing it Wednesday is over the top.
Some would be wrong. Or at least short-sighted.
Baseball can’t do enough to honor Jackie Robinson. They could call all the teams the Jackies for one day, and it wouldn’t be enough. They could put “Robinson” on everyone’s back, and it still wouldn’t be enough. Let’s not do that, but 42 on everybody’s back? Cool. What’s not to like? Great player, an even greater person and an immeasurable influence on the sport and America as a whole.
The tribute of retiring No. 42 around baseball was, in a word, perfect. The idea Ken Griffey Jr. had of “unretiring” it for one day — this day, the anniversary of the day he stepped on a Major League field and changed everything — was, in a word, brilliant. This next step is just a really nice next step from what a few teams did last year, a photo op in the midst of every single game, a statement that doesn’t need the game to stop playing for it to be made.
What happens when everybody wears No. 42? Well, the obvious: Anyone who watches a game or sees a photo of one knows something special is going on, and those who don’t know what it is should ask. It’s the message that keeps on giving, and if you’re tired of hearing it, well, either you already get it or you never will.
It’s one day. Everybody’s wearing the same number in honor of a great American — don’t even say he wasn’t all that, or you really would be wrong.
All it’s really saying is this, and it can’t be said enough:
Thanks, Jackie.
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Jackie be nimble,
and be quick, April 15 –
Time started that day
Two weeks in a day
What we learned last week:
Baseball connects us all to many great things, and it connects us all to the horribly tragic sometimes as well.
Junior, it’s like you never left, there you go trotting around the bases for the Mariners.
One of the first teams to five wins — the . . . Padres? No offense, but what in the name of Nate Colbert is going on here?
Albert Pujols is a good hitter. He hits baseballs very hard. Oh, we knew that.
Even if you’re not a fan of the Marlins or of a certain leadoff hitter named Emilio, there’s not too many things as fun to say as . . . Bonifacio!
What we will learn this week:
Just how different Citi Field is from Shea Stadium as a home ballpark, starting with “oh, a whole lot” and going from there. And then, how games will look being played in a Yankee Stadium that’s across the street from the truly hallowed ground.
How Ichiro and Junior look in the same outfield.
Once again just how much Jackie Robinson means not only to baseball but really to the world, some 62 years later.
Exactly how many swings and exactly how many ground balls and exactly how many fill-in-the-blanks Alex Rodriguez does in each workout in Tampa.
Which teams are really on to something, and which ones were toying with us early.
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Calling time, step out,
Watch out, here’s an April buzz –
Angels-Sox: rivals
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