Sports
LA City Council Honors Pasadena Native Jackie Robinson
Robinson, who grew up in Pasadena and attended John Muir High School, became the first black man to play in major league baseball since the 1880s.
The LA City Council will celebrate the 12th annual Jackie Robinson Day in Los Angeles today, three days before the 66th anniversary of his breaking baseball's color line.
Former Los Angeles Dodger outfielders Tommy Davis and Lou Johnson,
members of Robinson's family, John Young, founder of Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, and representatives of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which provides four-year college scholarships to disadvantaged students of color, will receive a proclamation from Councilman Tom LaBonge at today's City Council meeting.
On April 15, 1947, Robinson -- who was raised in Pasadena and attended
John Muir High School, Pasadena City College and UCLA -- became the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s.
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He went hitless in four at-bats but scored what proved to be the winning
run in the Brooklyn Dodgers' 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves in front of a
crowd of 25,623 at Ebbets Field.
Robinson played his entire major league career with Brooklyn, helping lead the team to six National League championships during his 10 seasons, and, in 1955, their only World Series championship.
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Robinson's integration into Major League Baseball is credited with
helping change Americans' attitudes toward blacks and being a catalyst for
later civil rights advances.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will join all of Major League Baseball in
commemorating Jackie Robinson Day at Monday's game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, with Robinson's widow, Rachel, his daughter, Sharon, and son, David, scheduled to be in attendance.
