Just finished watching the Ken Burns 9 Inning “Baseball” documentary that is a timeless beauty I could literally watch every night the same way I used to every off season…
The history of the game and how it has paralleled the history of our country has fascinated and captivated me on so many different levels.
Obviously it’s been well documented here in the Daily Hustle that I was a history major at UCLA… I am a firm believer that the more we study and understand the world and the generations that came before us, the more knowledge and wisdom we will be able to apply to our own experiences in the here and now as well as going forward. Add in my love for baseball and specifically US History and I could easily make the argument that the “Baseball” doc is my favorite of all time…
All that said, our history in the United States and the history of our game has endured some serious challenges and both have had to overcome shallow minded prejudices and racial inequality that included segregation that embarrassingly lasted until the mid 20th century…
At UCLA, I actually wrote my senior thesis on Jackie Robinson and how him breaking the racial barrier in baseball transcended the game and has had a gigantic and lasting IMPACT on racial relations across our entire nation.
Jackie was an All American tailback, an All American point guard and an NCAA track champion and I haven’t even mentioned the sport in which he became a Hall Of Famer…
Jackie was quite possibly the greatest athlete of all time yet the thing he will be forever known for is breaking the color barrier in baseball while enduring overwhelming racism and pure hatred from fellow players and fans.
Because he had strict instructions from Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, Jackie wore the abuse for a couple seasons and endured unimaginable hardships…
Eventually, many of his teammates fought back for him and then Jackie fought back for himself.
Not surprisingly, this unified the Dodgers team in a way that went well beyond the sport of baseball…
Jackie won the MVP in 1947 and the Brooklyn Dodgers took their first World Series championship.
After Jackie retired, he continued to champion for Civil Rights until the day he died, way too early.
These are undoubtedly the most challenging and racially divided times that I have seen in the past 40 plus years…
Other than the obvious, our looks, I did not know the difference between black and white growing up. My first real friend was a black kid named Little Reggie that I met at the Montessori I eventually got kicked out of, but that’s a story for another Daily Hustle…
As a 5 year old, we are blind to the biases and prejudgements of the world… The only thing we know is if something or someone is fun or not fun, good or bad and nice or mean. In a sense, we are completely oblivious to stigmas and stereotypes consistently forced upon us as we get older…
Look, I am a middle-aged white male that grew up in Northern California and has never experienced true racism in any capacity… I grew up in a bit of a bubble and then spent my entire professional baseball career in another sort of bubble as well.
Baseball, for as long as I have known it, has been an international game that has almost always rewarded and promoted the best players regardless where they are from or the color of their skin…
That said, segregation and racial targeting has grossly plagued our game and our country in the past and is still obviously present today.
Blatant brutality, excessive force, and cases of cold blooded murder have recently come to light and disgusting doesn’t even begin to describe what has transpired.
All this said, I can’t help but think what would Jackie do?
Here was a dude that paved the way for racial integration not only in baseball but for the United States as well…
He was ordered to NOT fight back which put him on a higher ground and earned him the admiration and respect of his teammates who decided to fight back for him. After a period of time, Jackie said FUCK IT and joined the fight himself and continued to physically and verbally battle for equal rights and opportunities of all minorities…
So here we are, 50 plus years after Jackie broke the color barrier and it seems like an entire society, in a lot of ways, has finally decided to stand up and stand together as teammates.
Let’s hope the same way Jackie’s teammates standing up for him brought the entire team together, our society standing up for each other will make the same impact and bring together an entire nation.
Jackie is buried 2 miles from the old Ebbets Field site in Brooklyn and the message on his tombstone is a beautiful reminder we all need to remind ourselves of regularly…
“A life is not important except for the impact it has on others.”
Sometimes in life, the greatest impact we can ever make is by simply being a good teammate.
-EB
P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.
Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now! 📽🍿
