Jackie Robinson Day

(Plus: My Minnesota Twins are having a bad start this year.)

Besides being Tax Day in the USA, for baseball fans April 15th is Jackie Robinson Day (because 4/15 was opening day in 1947 — the first season Jackie Robinson played in the MLB).

To honor him, every MLB player today wears a jersey with his number: #42.

In his honor, #42 was retired throughout baseball in 1997. The last player to wear #42 — players who already had that number in 1997 were grandfathered — was the great New York Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera, who retired in 2013 (in a very emotional last game).

In counterpoint, former Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter pushed back on everyone wearing #42 today. He said:

“This is supposed to be an honor and just a handful of guys wearing the number. Now you’ve got entire teams doing it. I think we’re killing the meaning. It should be special wearing Jackie’s number, not just because it looks cool.”

Fair point, and we do tend to turn things that are supposed to be special and thoughtful into a pro forma rite that loses meaning. I’m not sure what the alternative might be, though. I think we should honor Robinson, and maybe this blanket approach is the best we can do.

Perhaps, at the very least, it gets announcers talking about why everyone is wearing the same number, and that might inspire fans to seek out more about such an important part of baseball history.

As an aside, Robinson wasn’t actually the first Black MLB player. That honor goes to Moses Fleetwood Walker. Who played one season for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884. Interestingly, he played 42 games (with a .263 BA, 40 hits, and 23 runs scored). Injuries ended his career.

Robinson played nine seasons from 1947 to 1956, had a .313 BA, 1,562 hits, 141 HR, and 972 runs scored. A very decent career not to mention being a critical milestone in the evolution of baseball.

Two notable movies about Robinson are The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) — starring Jackie Robinson as himself — and more recently 42 (2013). The latter features Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. (It’s a rare role for Ford where he doesn’t essentially just play himself.) Both movies are “must-see” for baseball fans.

There is also a good documentary TV series by filmmaker Ken Burns.

It would be nice to be able to say we’re making progress on racism in America, but that would be utterly false. A notable aspect of America from the beginning is the strong current of racism, and that current — as recent politics makes painfully clear — is as strong as it ever was. One characteristic of America is how divided its people are. (Most polls on any interesting topic shows close to a 50/50 split.)

And indeed, there has also been an anti-racism current throughout our history. Contrary to some (racist) assertions, it was never true that everyone accepted slavery “back then”. Both currents have run through us from the very beginning.

[I cannot recommend more strongly and urgently that everyone read Stamped from the Beginning (2016) by Ibram X. Kendi. It even comes in graphic novel form, and there’s a version for kids. Visit Kendi’s site.]

As a final note, the science fiction fan in me (a large and looming presence) loves that his number was #42.

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My Minnesota Twins

On a more local note, my Minnesota Twins are off to a horrible start this year. For once, our pitching is pretty decent, but the team is having a hard time finding its bats. Plate appearances have been painful to watch. Innings with two runners on with no outs usually end with no runs scored.

Here’s our season so far (from my own little Python app):

 1: 03-27: L @Cardinals 3-5 (8-10) E1
 2: 03-29: L @Cardinals 1-5 (3-10)
 3: 03-30: L @Cardinals 2-9 (5-10)
== 0-3 (.000) 6-19 (16-30) [6-19 (16-30)]

 4: 03-31: L @Chi-Sox 0-9 (2-8) E1
 5: 04-01: W @Chi-Sox 8-3 (10-9)
 6: 04-02: W @Chi-Sox 6-1 (8-6) E1
== 2-4 (.333) 14-13 (20-23) [20-32 (36-53)]

 7: 04-03: L Astros 2-5 (5-9)
 8: 04-05: W Astros 6-1 (6-9)
 9: 04-06: L Astros 7-9 (12-13) E1
== 3-6 (.333) 15-15 (23-31) [35-47 (59-84)]

10: 04-07: L @Royals 2-4 (7-9)
11: 04-08: L @Royals 1-2 (7-3) E3
12: 04-09: W @Royals 4-0 (7-3)
13: 04-10: L @Royals 2-3 (5-7) E2
== 4-9 (.308) 9-9 (26-22) [44-56 (85-106)]

14: 04-11: L Tigers 6-7 (12-10) E2
15: 04-12: L Tigers 0-4 (4-5) E1
16: 04-13: W Tigers 5-1 (9-5)
== 5-11 (.312) 11-12 (25-20) [55-68 (110-126)]

17: 04-11: L Mets 1-5 (3-7) E2
== 5-12 (.294) 1-5 (3-7) [56-73 (113-133)]

The numbers in parentheses are hits, the other numbers are runs. Minnesota’s numbers are always first, even in home games (when they bat second). For instance, in the last game, a home game, the Twins lost 1-5 and were outhit 3-7. The “E” numbers are the errors in the game. Zero is the goal, an occasional one is just bad luck, but two, let alone three, in one game says something.

The number lines starting with “==” are series totals (first) followed by season totals in square brackets. The first numbers in those lines are win-loss and win-percentage.

As we say in Minnesnowta, “Oof, dah!” Too many errors, for one, though the fielding has been generally good but with some painful mistakes. Most notably pitchers fielding the ball and “airmailing” it to first (throwing above the first baseman).

Regardless, being 5-12 (.294) on the season is pretty depressing.

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And that’s all I have for you today. (Sometimes I am capable of a short post.)

Until next time…