ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 TAG: 9702270055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Baseball dedicated its 1997 season to Jackie Robinson on Wednesday and will donate $1 million to the foundation established for the player who broke the sport's color line 50 years ago.
``It was baseball's proudest moment then. It's still baseball's proudest moment, and I believe it will always be baseball's proudest moment,'' acting commissioner Bud Selig said. ``Should it have come earlier? Certainly. There never should have been a barrier.''
At a news conference attended by Robinson's widow, Rachel, Selig said:
* all major- and minor-league players and all major-league umpires will wear ``Breaking Barriers'' arm patches this season;
* all teams will use balls with the commemorative logo in their home openers;
* 100,000 gold and 200,000 silver commemorative coins will be sold by the U.S. Mint;
* teams will show Robinson video spots created by filmmaker Spike Lee on their stadium scoreboards and television broadcasts;
* the All-Star game in Cleveland will be dedicated to Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, and he will be honorary captain of the AL team.
``The residue of racism is still with us and the struggle is still on,'' Rachel Robinson said. ``We need to have a vision and we need to have a plan.''
When Robinson made his big-league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he became the first black in the major leagues since Moses Fleetwood Walker of Toledo in the American Association in 1884.
President Clinton said Tuesday he will attend ceremonies at Shea Stadium on April 15 to mark the anniversary and will speak from the field during the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.
``The Robinson challenge was not just to the pitcher, but to society as a whole,'' said NL president Len Coleman, the chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
``He was my hero, my champion. He carried my every hope and aspiration on his shoulders,'' said Coleman, who was inspired by Robinson when he was young and has become baseball's point man in organizing the tributes.
Selig said baseball will make a renewed effort to increase minority hiring, asking each team to establish goals and promising to monitor their progress.
Al Campanis, then the general manager of the Dodgers, created a furor 10 years ago when he said on national television of blacks: ``I truly believe they may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager or perhaps a general manager.''
``We've made I think considerable progress in the last five or 10 years,'' Selig said. ``We have much yet to be done. This year will be seen as an opportunity.''
While the percentage of minority workers in baseball's New York offices has increased greatly, the percentage of increase among the teams has lagged.
``Jack was impatient for change and rightfully so,'' Rachel Robinson said. ``I think he would think we have not come far enough. There has been retrenchment in society'' - a reference to scaling back of affirmative action programs.
The Robinson Foundation was established by his family following his death in 1972. It has a $12 million endowment and hopes to net $1 million at a dinner in New York on March 10. Rachel Robinson said the foundation has given scholarships to 142 students and 66 universities, and says 92 percent of the recipients have graduated.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Jackie Robinson would probably ``think we have notby CNBcome far enough'' in achieving racial equality, according to his
widow, Rachel. color.