Jackie Robinson Day will acknowledge the Brooklyn Dodgers pioneer who broke the color line in Major League Baseball in 1947 (image by the Philadelphia Tribune)
What would Jackie Robinson say today? -About Baseball
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
April 15, 2021 will be the 74th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color-barrier and playing with the major league Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. But what would Robinson say today, about today’s game? His answers, I would leave to your imagination.
1-For starters, Jackie Robinson stole home 19 times. That is not taking into consideration that in the first game of the 1955 World Series, Sept. 27, 1955 against the Yankees, he stole home. Today a straight steal of home is not what you will see in any game. Maybe your chances of winning the Lotto are greater than witnessing the daring play, in person, listening to radio or watching television.
2-Jackie Robinson ended his 10-year major league career with a combined .311 average. We all know that the batting average is not the thing now in the game of baseball. It is all about Launch Angle, which is the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat, after it is hit. You will need to find a professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), to explain that in more detail.
3-During his ten year career Robinson earned a total of $296,000 in salary. In today’s game that is around $3 million. At the start of this 2021 a rookie salary in the major leagues is $570,500. Let’s take it to the extreme. In March 2019, LA Angels Mike Trout signed a contract extension for $426.5 million dollars and for 30 years.
This year Trout makes $36 million, the equivalent of $222.222 per game, that means in one (1) game Trout makes almost as much as Jackie Robinson made in his 10-year career in salary. However, some perspective about entertaining, and baseball is part of that, also in television where Judy (Judge Judy) Sheindlin makes $47 million every year in just 52 days of taping her shows. In 2016 Daniel Craig aka James Bond was given $150 million to film two more Bond movies.
4-During World War II in 1942, Robinson was drafted into the US Army and assigned to a segregated cavalry unit. In 1973 the draft ended and since then it is an all-volunteer force. Players do not have to worry about that anymore. Among those who volunteered to fight in WW II was Yogi Berra who saw action on the assault on Normandy on D-Day and Bob Feller who left a six-figure contract to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor.
5-Jackie Robinson like Roberto Clemente is revered in Latin America. Robinson Canó born in the Dominican Republic got his name because of his father José, who played briefly in the majors in 1989 and named his son Robinson name which is known thorough the world as a historical figure as well as a baseball icon.
On this anniversary of Jackie Robinson playing in the major leagues, now more than ever, we should teach our youth the importance of this iconic figure in American and world sports history. Playing baseball and reaching the major leagues is never easy and even harder back in 1947 when there were a total of 16 teams (eight in each league). Number 42 was a great baseball player, but most important, a great man and a great American.
Join Amaury PI Gonzalez the lead play by play announcer for the Oakland A’s on the Spanish radio network and on flagship station 1010 KIQI LaGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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