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Today is the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. That means that in his honor all players on both teams will be wearing #42 today. It is a nice gesture from the league on this day, even as whatever drone mans the MLB Twitter account has gone full cynic.
Yes, MLB, nothing says honoring the legacy of a great baseball player and a greater man like shamelessly shilling for retweets.
That was nearly 70 years ago, a long time, but not THAT long. It was before my parents' time but not my grandparents. Society has come a long way in fighting this kind of overt racism. I always remember reading an interview with Frank Robinson where he spoke about how his first thought when he got traded to Baltimore was that he remembered it as a place where he couldn't even go to the movie theater because it was segregated. That one was within my parents' lifetime.
There are those who believe that Eddie Murray being run out of town was in part racially motivated. Maybe it was. I don't know. I wasn't old enough to remember, but this one was within my own lifetime. Now I am in my 30s and Adam Jones is the face of the Orioles franchise.
The problem is not solved, nor should we all pat ourselves on the back thinking it is. It's a lot better than it was, though, and that's worth something. Today in a small way we remember that.