My first project I decided to do an honorary thank you to Jackie Robinson. Baseball wouldn't be the same without him changing/breaking the color barrier. This project consist of me researching the background on his life. Things like his family, his statistics, his friends, etc. I also did some research on his quotes. Jackie had hundreds of famous sayings that still live up to this date. I included some of the quotes on my art piece.
Art: The symbolism
This piece is called ''The symbolism'' because it honors Jackie Robinsons number, 42. I wanted to do a piece that honored his retired number, also I included quotes from Jackie Robinson that are engraved onto both numbers, 4 and 2. I researched about ways I could make an impact with this idea in real life. I could message a major league baseball team and see if a ceremony could possibly take place during a time of seasonal baseball. I believe Jackie Robinson doesn't get enough recognition for what he has done to sports in general.
English: Journal entries:
For my english piece I wanted to do a piece where I was in his perspective and told his story about his first game in the league as the first person of color to do it. I did multiple journal entries dating from the night before the first game, all the way to the morning after his first game. Below are the entries
9:00 PM: Night of April 14th, 1947, I went to bed with a weird feeling that the next day would be off. I already knew that it would feel weird because, in less than a week, my life had changed. I am playing for a whole other team, under a whole new league, and a whole new crowd, more whites especially. The league invited my entire family to the game tomorrow. I was worried about how they would be treated in the stands. I told both of my sons, Jackie Jr. and David to behave themselves. I want no conflict with my family before, during, or after the game. Anyway, I tucked under my covers in my tiny Brooklyn home, South of the city, and dozed off with my wife under the New York night.
6:30 AM, April 15th: I woke up with a smile, ready to start this historic day. Being the only person of color to play in the league would be delusional for many people. Baseball was always considered a white man's sport. Gametime was at 2:15 PM and coach Clyde Sukeforth told me at practice yesterday that I will be starting at 1st base! I was surprised that he actually gave me a starting spot in the lineup. I already met my teammates. My two favorites were John Jorgensen and Pee Wee Reese. They loved the fact that there was a change in scenery on the team, but I was worried about the team we were playing The Boston Braves. They were the #1 team in the league, but we were #3. Boston people scare me. They always have treated our kind differently. I ate my apple butter mint, drank my orange juice, and walked out to my car.
9:00 AM: Two and a half hours ago I left my house having a weird feeling in my gut that today was going to get out of hand. Me and Rachel, my wife, were the only ones who were worried for today. Coach told me earlier as of arriving at Ebbets field that everything would be under control. He told me ‘’you will hear something from the other team and the crowd, but our team is on your side so you can trust us, boy’’. Of course, I nodded in agreement hopeful that he was right. Batting practice was at 10 AM and I wanted to be one of the first people there just to show that I deserve to be here.
10:00 AM: In batting practice, we went in lineup order. I was batting first! This was a big step for both me and the team. Apparently last night at practice Pee Wee Reece did something to his arm and is out for a couple of weeks. He was the leadoff hitter of course. Coach put me in that spot because I am fast and aggressive on the bags. Batting practice was thrilling. I never got to hit on a field that was so nice until now. The Braves famous Bob Elliott was eyeing me probably because of my skin color, but other than that batting practice was amazing. Game time was in 4 hours and I was ready to play already!
12:00 PM: It was already lunchtime on the big day, and coach was taking me into the city for lunch. We went to the city's famous “Brooklyn Bar’’. We sat down in a wooden booth in the back corner of the bar. Both of us ordered a full Brooklyn special pizza with shrooms on top. After we ate, coach said he would pay with the 50s?! I insisted I would pay, but he said it was my special day. Lots of judgment and racist sayings happened as I was walking out, but when coach was by my side he shut them up.
2:15 PM: It was game time! I was standing for the national anthem and everyone was looking at me. Not the flag or the wooden scoreboard, me! I was stretched out and ready to play the game that I love.
2:30 PM: My first at-bat came up and I was shaking terribly. My sweat dripped down in every crevice. I felt a little lightheaded, but coach was giving me confidence down at third base. The first person I heard in the crowd was my son yelling ‘’daddy’’! After he said that, it went silent in my eyes. I closed my eyes and thought of the best. Then the boos started to come. I knew it was coming, but it was even louder than I imagined. It was a sold-out crowd because of me! The first pitch came in, ‘’ball one’’. After the pitch came in, I started to feel better about myself thinking it wasn’t so bad. The second pitch came in, ‘’ball two’’. The third pitch came in, ‘’ball three’’. I knew after the third ball that I was going to walk. The fourth pitch came in, ‘’ball four, take your base’’. Just like that, I had taken my first at-bat as a walk. When I reached the bag, I knew right away what I was going to do. Steal! Right as the right-handed pitcher threw his front foot forward, I took off. Foot by foot, breath by breath dove into second base. The official said, ‘’safe’’! The crowd was still booing, but some started to cheer. I was thinking how much had changed so far in less than 10 minutes. People started to catch on as a positive, but I knew it would take more than one game to convince white people that colored people were allowed to play. Nothing relevant happened in the game and I got no action at first base other than catching balls from Pee Wee.
5:00 PM: We beat the Braves 5-3 in 9 innings. After the game people came up to me to comment, but I just ignored them if they were being mean. I wanted to go out for supper with the team, but my son wanted me to come home and eat with him. I decided to go home even though all of my teammates wanted me to come.
9:00 PM: I arrived at my bed with an exhausted feeling lying down next to my wife. She congratulated me on an amazing first day and she couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to face what I did. There was adversity and disbelief in every person in that stadium, including me. I kissed Rachel on the cheek and dosed off into the New York night.
7:30 AM: As I woke up I was exhausted from the game yesterday. Rachel was already out of bed making the children breakfast, and hopefully me too. As I lay in bed with no thoughts I cannot still wrap my head around how I became that man. The man who broke the color barrier of major league baseball. No one had ever seen a person of color on a major league field up until that point. It was amazing playing with new people, it will take some getting used to, but over time, people will not care that I am there. I will be just another player.