On the last day of Black History Month

Jackie Robinson was honoured as the man who broke the colour barrier in Major League Baseball as the first African-American player in the league. Ironically, the tribute did not occur on American soil. In fact, the accolades weren't specifically bestowed on Robinson, but rather to the fine people who welcomed and supported Jackie during the virulent and violent times that permeated the United States in that era.

In the off-season of 1945, Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and was relegated to their Triple-A farm team, the Montreal Royals. Spring training for the Royals took place in Daytona Beach, Florida. Robinson's presence was controversial in racially charged Florida. As he was not allowed to stay with his teammates at the team hotel, he lodged instead at the home of a local black politician. In Sanford, Florida, the police chief threatened to cancel games if Robinson wasn't taken off the Roylas' rsoter. As a result, Robinson was sent back to Daytona Beach. In Jacksonville, the stadium was padlocked shut without warning on game day, by order of the city's Parks and Public Property director. In DeLand, a scheduled day game was called off, supposedly because of faulty electrical lighting.

Although he often faced hostility while on road trips (the Royals were forced to cancel a Southern exhibition tour, for example), the Montreal fan base enthusiastically supported Robinson. Jackie's presence on the field was a boon to attendance; more than one million people went to games involving Robinson in 1946, an amazing figure by International League (Triple-A) standards.

Wiki

After a spring training in the segregated South, newlywed Rachel Robinson went to look at an apartment in a white neighborhood in Montreal. A French-Canadian woman who spoke English welcomed her to the home.

''She received me so pleasantly,'' Jackie Robinson's widow recalled. ''Then she poured tea for me and agreed to rent the apartment to me furnished and she insisted I use her things -- like her linens and her china. It was an extraordinary welcome to Canada.''

The quaint Montreal duplex that served as sanctuary to the Robinsons during the early part of his struggle to break baseball's racial barrier is being recognized by the U.S. government. That chapter in American civil rights will be celebrated Monday when U.S. diplomats unveil a commemorative plaque at the apartment the couple called home in the summer of 1946.

The event will be attended by the U.S. ambassador to Canada, Montreal's mayor and Robinson's daughter as part of Black History Month.

Robinson, now 88, recalls arriving in Montreal after having survived the Jim Crow South during spring training in Florida.

There they were met with racism at every turn: on whites-only flights, in hotels and restaurants and ballparks. In some cities, they were chased out of town. The couple was twice bumped off airplanes while trying to get to Daytona.

News Story

"This is especially a special moment," said Sharon Robinson, the couple's daughter, who is vice-chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "I had never been to the home where my parents lived, so this is an emotional experience.

"My mother and father had such positive memories about their time in Montreal," she said. "To have it recognized where they lived in a neighbourhood that welcomed them and supported them then is quite emotional. I'm from Chicago and baseball was a very important part of my life growing up and this part of baseball was particularly important to everybody in the United States," Jacobson said. "So it's an honour to be here and to be able to celebrate this and in particular to be able to celebrate what the people of Montreal did and what they showed to Americans at a time when we weren't particularly as tolerant as we ought to have been."

News Story

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It's bottom of the ninth with two out...

What's up with baseball announcers these days? Why do they keep informing the viewers over and over...and over again about the current status of the game? For instance: "There's a man on first with two outs at the bottom of the third in a zero-zero tie". Uh, thanks, but I know all that--it's right there on the screen...constantly.

I guess because of technology, the requirements of the job have changed--they just forgot to CC: the announcers on the memo. They should stick to analysis of the game and throw in a little personal stuff here and there. Maybe they don't have enough interesting or insightful things to say and have to back fill with um, filler. Whatever the reason, I want my money back.


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Strange creatures

I'm at this moment watching the Toronto Blue Jays beating up on the Chicago White Sox. "Doc" Halladay has just struck out his eighth batter trying to improve his record to 9 and 1 and for the team to extend their American League East lead. Last week, Doc beat the Yankees and his (Doc's) most excellent student of last year, A.J. Burnett. A.J. left the Jays at the end of last season after a terrific (I believe) 18-win season for a contract of about $80 million with New York.

But I'm not here to talk about Doc or the Jays or Burnett for that matter. A few minutes ago, I noticed something a bit strange and amusing. I've seen it many tmes but never really thought about it. If you've watched any baseball, you've probably seen it, too. A pitch was tossed into the dirt and immediately after the catcher caught it, he extended his glove back so that the umpire can take the ball. The umpire raised the ball toward his eyes and examined it. The thing is, every time they do that, they always discard the ball. I mean always. And yet, they consistently go through the ritual of having a look at it before doing so. Why bother? Why not cut out the middle man and have the catcher toss the ball aside? I guess it gives the umpire an air of superiority and power that only he can make the decision as to the fate of the ball. In reality, the decision is made the moment the ball hits the ground.

I'm thinking the gesture the umpire makes is sort of like the other useless habit many people have--the disgusting habit of examining the itsy bitsy piece of foreign material they pick out of any one of various orifices like the corner of their eye, their ear, or worst of all, their nose. Funny creatures, humans.

I guess they didn't get the memo on obesity

A minor league baseball park in Grand Rapids, Michigan has added a major league item to its menu--an unbelievable four pound burger! The monstrosity contains 4,800 calories and it's price tag is also major league--it'll set you back $20. But they say that anyone who eats it all in one sitting will receive a special T-shirt. Mama mia! Atsa one big hamburger!

Q & A's from around the web

How many HRs does a player on average hit each season?

totally depends on the player

It depends totally on the player

There are many variables that factor into how many homeruns per season a player averages.

The problem with your question is that there is no single average player to base an average number of homeruns on each year.

Editor's note:
You ask a simple question--you'd think someone would just say "About 20".

CRACK!!!

That was the sound of a baseball leaving the park.

Which Major League Baseball team recently swept the Boston Red Sox, spanking them 15-4 in one game and then in the following series against the New York Yankees, took two of three, humiliating the Bronx Bombers 14-3 in the rubber match? The birds, of course. No, not the Orioles. The Toronto Blue Jays.

Now that post season play is virtually out of reach, they give us something to cheer about. We dare not even consider the playoffs. You just know that the second it becomes even imaginable, they will promptly let us down. This comes from intense conditioning over a long period of time. It is still fresh in this fan's mind that recently, Toronto was swept by the worst team in baseball--the Cleveland Mariners.

Still, a sound thrashing of Boston or the (hated) Yankees is always fun to watch.