Dodger Stadium's first statue will be of Jackie Robinson

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 22, 2015 | Steve Dilbeck

[EveningStar]

The Dodgers are finally going the statue route at Dodger Stadium and on Tuesday announced the first would be of Jackie Robinson.

The Dodgers said the statue will be 9 to 10 feet tall and located at a stadium site to be determined during the 2016 season.

[BluesDuke]

Ahhh, will he be wearing a BROOKLYN shirt?

Not likely. The Dodgers stopped sewing "Brooklyn" on their traveling uniforms before Jackie Robinson's rookie season. But he'll be wearing a Brooklyn cap.

[BluesDuke]

“the statue will be 9 to 10 feet tall”
Jackie was a giant.

Some people forget that if Buzzie Bavasi had had his way Jackie Robinson would have become a Giant for 1957.

Robinson had decided to retire and wrote a ghosted essay saying so for Life at about the same time Bavasi decided to trade him to the Giants. The story was published about the same time the deal was announced and Robinson was tempted not to retire---the Giants were said to be offering him very good money to play another year.

But when Bavasi made a wisecrack, "I know Robinson and he loves money, and now he'll play for the Giants so he can make even more money," Robinson decided the retirement had to stick because he didn't want to look like what he wasn't, a mere money grubber.

It's long lost, but there was said to have been a cartoon in one of the New York papers showing Jackie Robinson as a Giant batting against Sal Maglie as a Dodger.

(Maglie, remember, was a June 1956 pickup by the Dodgers from the Cleveland Indians, and he helped shore up the pitching staff and make the last Brooklyn pennant possible. At the time of the Robinson-to-the-Giants dustup, Maglie was still a Dodger; they'd move him to the Yankees during the 1957 season.)

[BluesDuke]

I have nothing against Jackie Robinson but putting his statue there is PC nonsense.

Not at all. Remove Robinson the colour barrier breaker, focus on him strictly as a major league baseball player, and you can make a case that Robinson strictly by the numbers (he might have another one or two seasons to add to them, perhaps, had his knees not begun betraying him in 1955; he was 28 when he came to the Dodgers) may have been the greatest all-around position player (and probably the best middle infielder) in the franchise's history.

As for the next Dodger to get a statue at Dodger Stadium? That's a no-brainer---Koufax.

[dennisw]

You know your stuff!!!

But the first LA Dodgers statue should be Don Drysdale...then Sandy Koufax when he passes on

[BluesDuke]

But the first LA Dodgers statue should be Don Drysdale...then Sandy Koufax when he passes on

If Koufax is the greatest pitcher in franchise history (and he is, pending the conclusion of Clayton Kershaw's career), why wait until he's dead? (Even if the man himself might think it a little on the foolish side, knowing Koufax.)

[dennisw]

I admit its in the past a bit but the usual practice is that living people don’t get statues made of them. You are tempting the fates.

[BluesDuke]

I admit its in the past a bit but the usual practice is that living people don’t get statues made of them. You are tempting the fates.

Wouldn't be the first or last time, I'm sure. ;)

[Migraine]

Thanks for the list. It made me think, a lot.

[Fundamentally Fair]

I’m a cradle Dodgers fan. Went to my first games there. Used to sit on the back porch with my grandpa listening to Scully on the radio. But over the past couple years I’ve been stadium and it’s been horrible.

I won’t go again.