Baseball legend Jackie\u00a0Robinson received a Hollywood-level tribute from fans of his former team last Tuesday. Before the MLB All-Star Game at Dodgers Stadium, actor\u00a0Denzel Washington\u00a0remembered Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, on the 75th anniversary of his inaugural season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Washington pointed out where Robinson\u2019s MLB career began: Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn, New York, home of the Dodgers before their move to Los Angeles in 1958, saying, \u201cWhen Jackie Robinson stepped onto a Major League Baseball field for the first time, armed with supreme talent and unshakable character, and wearing a Dodgers uniform, he changed the game of baseball and so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington continued, \u201cHe said that life is not a spectator sport, and he lived that motto to the fullest.\u201d Robinson died in 1972 at age 53. The actor also celebrated Robinson\u2019s activism and his many pursuits outside of sports. Citing Robinson\u2019s decorated career, Washington said, \u201cWhat he carried with him, what he represented, was towering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the field, Jackie Robinson challenged us to become better versions of ourselves: business leader, family man, activist, Hall of Famer,\u201d Washington said.<\/p>\n
Those words were later amplified by two tributes to Rachel Robinson: an on-field happy birthday cheer led by current Dodgers player\u00a0<\/strong>Mookie Betts and a video piece narrated by actress Octavia Spencer. Spencer called the Robinsons a pair of pioneers on \u201cthe unstoppable way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n When they traveled together to Florida for spring training at a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team, Rachel and Jackie Robinson were newlyweds. Rachel\u00a0previously described to NPR<\/a>\u00a0how she was \u201chorrified\u201d by the everyday racism they encountered, from being bumped off flights and turned away from restaurants to being forced to sit in the back of the bus in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n The Robinsons were active in civil rights and leveraged their position to help others, from business, housing, and banking ventures, to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which Rachel founded to help minority students attend college and find their way to careers.<\/p>\n Washington concluded his speech with an eye to the bigger picture, saying, \u201c[Jackie Robinson] said that life is not a spectator sport, and he lived that motto to the fullest. Whether it was charging down the baselines or standing tall for opportunity and justice, number 42 blazed a trail that would light the way for people of every walk of life and every color.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd to this very day \u2014 every generation \u2014 that inspiration, that profound impact looms just as large today as it did 75 years ago. Washington was once slated to star in a film about Robinson. According to Variety, the scrapped project was to have been a\u00a0Spike Lee-directed flick. The movie preceded plans for 2013\u2032s \u201c42\u201d starring the late Chadwick Boseman. In a post on Instagram in 2020, Lee revealed Washington said he was \u201ctoo old\u201d to play Robinson.<\/p>\n Players can still feel Jackie Robinson\u2019s impact in today\u2019s game. Because of his bravery and accomplishments, black boys can play in the major leagues and stand in the sun.<\/p>\n Denzel Washington honors Jackie Robinson. Chills. #AllStarGame<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Tm9BEj1FHJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n