Jackie’s Hall of Fame Plaque Had To Be Changed

By Dan Schlossberg

Watching hundreds of major-leaguers wearing No. 42 on April 15 reminded me that the man they were honoring needed to have his original Hall of Fame plaque updated.

A first-ballot selection in 1962, Jackie Robinson had a .311 lifetime batting average and played for six pennant-winners during his 10-year career. He also helped the Dodgers win their only world championship for Brooklyn, in 1955.

But his first plaque makes no mention of the fact that Robinson not only integrated the game but also endured countless challenges — namely the bigotry of ballplayers, media members, and loud-mouthed fans who reminded him at every turn that he was different than everybody else.

Thanks to a gentle nudge from his widow Rachel, the Hall of Fame took the unusual step of replacing the original Robinson plaque in June of 2008.

Its last line read, “DISPLAYED TREMENDOUS COURAGE AND POISE IN 1947 WHEN HE INTEGRATED THE MODERN MAJOR LEAGUES IN THE FACE OF INTENSE ADVERSITY.”

There’s a beautiful Jackie Robinson Museum in Lower Manhattan.Photo byWikimedia

That corrected a huge omission in the original, which dealt strictly with baseball and not the player’s contributions to the culture of both baseball and the country.

Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn executive who brought Robinson to the majors over the objections of the other 15 clubs, once said, “I don’t think the writers chose Jackie in spite of his color or because of it. They chose him on merit.”

Maybe so but why did he only draw 77.5 per cent of the vote, barely over the 75 per cent required for enshrinement?

The original Robinson plaque found its way to the Jackie Robinson Museum in Lower Manhattan. And his reputation has risen to such a level that his vote for Cooperstown could be unanimous if it were held today.

The new plaque certainly helps his legacy.

According to Rachel Robinson, “As young people view Jack’s new Hall of Fame plaque, they will look beyond statistics and embrace all that Jack has meant and all that they can be.”

In addition to the Robinson museum, an archive of artifacts and photographs from his career opened at the Gitterman Gallery on April 15 and will run through May 24.

Called Jackie Robinson and the Color Line, the exhibit highlights the collection of Paul Reiferson and includes more than 500 prints taken by celebrated baseball photographer Charles M. Conlon.

Some have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, and Bronx Museum of the Arts, among others.

“I saw that the color line transcended baseball, that it was about America struggling to solve a terrible problem, and that the stories of the people in that fight were extraordinary,” Reiferson explained.

Included are the original photographs of Robinson and Satchel Paige published by LIFE Magazine.

Also on display are the actual telegrams between Rickey and Robinson regarding their historic first meeting.

Dan Schlossberg’s new book Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron reveals that Aaron was a civil rights advocate who befriended Jackie Robinson and tried to promote his legacy. Dan’s e.mail is ballauthor@gmail.com.