The American Spectator

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(Page 7 of 12)

While it is true that Jackie Robinson lived the last years of his life in Stamford, Connecticut, he was informally adopted by the Borough of Brooklyn as its native son when he arrived in 1947 to play for the hometown Dodgers. The Brooklyn connection never left the man, even after his death, for one will find highways, parks and schools named after #42. He is also buried there.

As a Brooklynite of ten when Robinson was brought up from Montreal, the Dodger's AAA farm team, I saw Robinson play over the course of a decade until 1957, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to their current digs in Los Angeles. Their crosstown rivals, the NY Giants, moved to San Francisco the same year. That said, Lisa Fabrizio's elegiac account of Robinson does, in my view, blur the distinction between fair reporting and hagiography.

Few of the younger readers of this site can understand what baseball meant to many Americans after World War II. It was not only "America's pastime," it was "the only game in town"; no other professional sport rivaled it for attention. Further, the game of baseball exhibited the virtues and vices associated with what might be called our traditions: the open spaces, the slow pace of the nine innings, and, like much of America, was segregated. Robinson, who started out playing first base, became an instant success in Brooklyn, and, to coin a phrase, "the rest is history." Almost. What Lisa Fabrizio has done is focused on the political side of Robinson. I shall leave to others if John Roosevelt Robinson was a Rockefeller Republican or not, but his "storied career" needs some clarification.

Robinson came to the Dodgers in 1947 at the age of 28, after service in World War II. In that duty he was far from alone, for many not only served, but, as in the case of one of baseball's great natural hitters, Ted Williams, had their careers interrupted again during the Korean War. In those years, baseball careers were subordinate to the national interest. Over the course of the next decade, Robinson would achieve a lifetime average of .311; good, but not extraordinary. His fielding excellence was limited by his inability to "go to his right," which led to his being moved from second to third base. Although not as fast as other players, on the base paths Robinson was extraordinary; he made a reputation by his ability to distract opposing pitchers, and to steal home plate. But what must also be included in this man's athletic career is, during his time with the Dodgers, he never was a major asset to the team during the Worlds Series. During Robinson's decade with the Dodgers, he played in six World Series: the Dodgers lost five; hence, the mantra: wait 'til next year. Clearly Robinson's hitting average did not help the Dodger cause: his hitting average for the six Series was under .230. In short, he was not a major factor during the Series, even when the Dodgers won in 1955.

Nonetheless, because of his breaking the color barrier, not, in my judgment, due to his extraordinary baseball talent, Robinson entered the Hall of Fame in 1962.

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