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MLB:
Major League Baseball, its clubs and other partners, and the Jackie Robinson Foundation are once again working together to honor the legacy of the Dodgers icon throughout Jackie Robinson Day on Tuesday.
The tributes will be most prominent on the field. All MLB players and coaching staff will continue the tradition of wearing Robinson’s No. 42 during Tuesday’s games, with each team using a Dodger blue ‘42’ regardless of the club’s normal colors. Players, managers, coaches and umpires will also wear a ‘42’ patch on the side of their hats.
It’s impossible to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day this year without acknowledging the deep racial, ethnic, gender, and political divides that engulf our lives and scar our psyches.
Baseball—like politics—is a long, grueling slog, and, perhaps, instructive: Keep playing, even when you’re behind. Focus on this game, this at bat, this pitch, this swing. You’ll win some and lose some; celebrate and mourn them the same—briefly—then move on. Sometimes you play offense, sometimes you play defense—both are equally important. You don’t have to swing at every pitch. Small actions matter. Play until you win—the result is worth it.
Jackie Robinson endured, and so shall we. Jackie never stopped fighting for his game, and neither shall we for our country. For just a brief moment, let’s put aside rivalries and take a break from our daily doomscrolling to celebrate the man who first stepped onto a Major League Baseball field on April 15, 1947, and forever changed the complexion of the game.
Even if he was a Dodger.
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