"When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life. Old age is more like a semicolon"-Kurt Vonnegut
While I write this in 10 minutes it will be April 15. Besides it being Income Tax Day it will also mark The 60th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson playing his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger, breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball forever. Robinson's number was 42. It was retired a number of years ago from Major League Baseball entirely. Only players who had that number at the time of it's retirement were allowed to keep using it. Today only reliever Mariano Rivera of The New York Yankees wears it. When he retires no other player will wear it ever again.
Except on April 15 2007. To mark the anniversary every ML team will have one player wear number 42 in tribute to Robinson. The LA Dodgers will have all their players wearing it! Although Robinson didn't go west with them when the team re-located to The West Coast. He retired himself instead.
Heroes these days are hard to find. Especially famous ones. And in sports particularly. Robinson put up with a lot in his time and for the first three years as a Dodger could do nothing about it. He endured lots of shit to make sure others could follow in his path. He succeeded but it made him old before his time. It's nice baseball is doing this. Jackie Robinson deserves it!
