Philadelphia officially apologizes to Jackie Robinson

Associated Press ^ | Mar 31, 2016 3:24 PM EDT

[4yearlurker]

I was at a Uriah Heep concert in Philly in 1973 and the crowd threw pennies at the band. I would now like to apologize for the crowds stoned behavior.

[colorado tanker]

Meaningless gesture/attention grab. Jackie’s number is retired at Citizens Bank Park just like it is in every other major league stadium. Baseball long ago made amends to the Robinson family.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

He and most, if not all, of the people actually involved are dead.

The dead can not issue or receive apologies.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Still, tax day? Why the insult to poor Jackie?

[Olog-hai]

It wasn’t “Tax Day” when JR made his debut (1947); the date was made the tax deadline in 1955.

[longfellow]

It’s Philly. If they meant it they would have done it when he was alive. But it’s philly, they couldn’t care less about pc.

[Vigilanteman]

I wish we could just vote them out the way they do in SURVIVOR. Then, they can find someone willing to take them.

Personally, I'd like to keep the narrow strip which includes their airport and port facilities.

[The Continental Op]

Just the left in their constant effort to keep alive the image of America as racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, and that dems are the answer for what ails the black community. Want to actually help your current black populace? Quit exporting jobs, quit pandering, bust up the teacher’s unions, stop destroying businesses, stop attacking religion, stop pushing policies that deprive a black family of a father. There are hundreds of things the dems could do, but prefer endless gestures and promises. Like sending James Taylor to France to fight Isis.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Yeah and the city didn’t pick the day until 2016.

[driftless2]

After recently reading a bio of Robinson he could have been a pro in three sports. He was an all-American football player at UCLA and all conference in basketball and track. In fact, baseball was his worst sport in college.

In basketball he led the the team in scoring. After graduation and army duty he played semi-pro basketball for the Los Angeles Red Devils in the late forties. They said Robinson, at 5'11, used to regularly dunk in basketball games. The team was good enough to beat some NBA teams in exhibition games.

The NBA wasn't integrated until 1950, and some people thought Robinson could have been the first black player in the league. But by that time he had been a star with the Dodgers for several seasons, and anyway baseball was his favorite sport.