Jackie Robinson

The first time you see the commercial, it takes your breath away."Thank you for letting me be the player that I always wanted to be," Tony Gwynn says."

Today's date, Aug. 28, links two epic moments in American history and in the progress of African-Americans in this country: The Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963 and Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president tonight. That has been well-documented. The connection and importance of that date, however, is stronger than even Obama might realize. Aug. 28 is also the date, in 1945, that Jackie Robinson first met Branch Rickey and was told that he was the player chosen to break baseball's color line.

The tributes to Jackie Robinson all over major league baseball today are too much, some say. The skeptics don't mean that in a negative way. It's touching for six entire major league teams to wear his No. 42 today, and for members of all the other teams, like the Orioles' Corey Patterson, to be wearing it. But isn't this overkill? Doesn't this water down the tribute? Doesn't it make it a trendy act instead of an act of respect? "Jackie Robinson would be rolling over in his grave," Twins outfielder Torii Hunter said on ESPN late last week, expressing his conviction that with this tribute, less is more.

The new Jackie Robinson movie “42” starring Chadwick Boseman, Nicole Beharie and Harrison Ford is getting mixed reviews for its depiction of the man who broke baseball's color barrier. But at least one local person is incensed that the Warner Bros. film fails to mention the role played by Sam Lacy, the long-time sports editor and columnist of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, in Robinson's ascension to the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. “I think it's a travesty,”Tim Lacy, Sam Lacy's son, said of his father's exclusion in “42.” “Because if you know the story, [Sam Lacy]

In Baltimore City Prayer vigil held for girl, 12, beaten at birthday party A prayer vigil was held yesterday in honor of Nicole Townes -- the 12-year-old girl who was brutally beaten by a group of women and girls at a birthday party Feb. 28. Nicole, who awoke from a coma last week, is breathing on her own but still unable to speak, said the Rev. Durrell Williams of the Full Gospel Deliverance Church, 1053 N. Milton Ave. She is listed in fair condition at...

Quote: "Seven runs with no extra-base hits, that's odd. But I've never seen us score seven runs in an inning with extra-base hits." -- Phillies manager Terry Francona.It's a fact: Last night the Marlins retired uniform No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. They didn't retire the number last season, the 50th anniversary of Robinson's breaking the color barrier, because Dennis Cook wore it.Who's hot: The Astros lead the NL with 32 steals, while their opponents have been successful twice in eight attempts.

Imagine if Tiger Woods had to walk along the fairways at the staid Augusta National Golf Club and had to hear screams of "nigger" directed at him at every turn. Imagine if his peers voted not to play with him. Imagine Woods having to play under death threats.Could Woods have performed under such pressure? Could Woods have succeeded?If Jackie Robinson were alive today, he would be proud that this country has made enough strides to appreciate and embrace a talent like Woods, who on Sunday became the first person of African-American descent to win the Masters.

BREAKING BASEBALL'S COLOR BARRIER February is African-American History Month, and www.4Kids.org honors Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to break baseball's color barrier. Learn all about Jackie's inspiring life at the AFRO-Americ@ Web site at www.afroam.org / history / Robinson / intro.html. You can read about Jackie's start in sports at UCLA where he excelled in football, track, baseball and basketball. Kid Quest: In what year did Jackie Robinson sign a minor league baseball contract with the Dodgers?

"You should read Jackie Robinson by Carol Greene. Jackie Robinson played track, football, baseball and basketball. Jackie was poor, but he became famous. When he became famous, he still gave money to his mom. He was so famous, he got into the Hall of Fame. - Marty Miller Jeffers Hill Elementary "Young Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream by Joanne Mattern is about a black man named Martin. Martin grew up in a time when blacks and whites were not friends. He made a speech. In his speech, he said `I have a dream that someday all Americans would be treated equally.

When Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line on April 15, 1947, the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper treated it as an epochal event; The Sun, as an afterthought.Typical, given the times.The Afro-American celebrated Robinson's debut in grand style: seven stories, seven photographs, an editorial and cartoon.The Baltimore Sun's coverage was scant - three paragraphs on the sports page of the morning paper and one in the evening, which mentioned Robinson in the last sentence of its baseball roundup:"Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn's Negro first baseman and first of his race to reach the majors since 1884, failed to get a hit in three official trips to the plate, but his sacrifice-error play in the seventh inning set up the subsequent tying and winning runs."