MLB can’t let extended lockout threaten Jackie Robinson Day on 75th anniversary of his debut

The lockout imposed by MLB owners two-and-a-half months ago, in the early moments of Dec. 2, shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Representatives for the owners and the MLB Players Association met on Saturday, and the owners passed along their latest proposal. Most every report about the union’s reaction included the word “unimpressed.”

This wasn’t surprising, of course, but it is disheartening. Commissioner Rob Manfred promised during his post-owners meetings news conference on Thursday, “It’s a good proposal.” Apparently even the definition of the word “good” is disputed by the two sides. 

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to officially report later this week, but with the clubhouse doors still locked — literally, not just figuratively — and the sides far, far apart on a potential agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, that’s not going to happen. 

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Spring games were scheduled to start on Feb. 26, and that’s almost certainly out, too. With at least four weeks’ worth of spring training likely necessary, it’s looking like a delayed Opening Day — set for March 31 — is as much an inevitability as a possibility. Heck, two plugged-in reporters for The Athletic (Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drelich) wrote a story with the headline “No reason to believe MLB season will start on time” after Saturday’s developments, or lack thereof. 

And if the lockout does indeed steamroll Opening Day, you don’t have to look much farther down the calendar to see the next potential casualty: Jackie Robinson Day, on April 15.

The first Jackie Robinson Day was held on April 15, 2004, a long-overdue celebration of the anniversary of the unforgettable day in 1947 when the sport’s most courageous pioneer broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier by stepping on the field for the first time as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson and his contributions made a massive impact not just on the game of baseball but on the American culture, and watching every player in the majors don his No. 42 uniform is a wonderful annual way to honor Robinson. 

This year is the 75th anniversary of Robinson’s MLB debut. 

“It certainly would be nothing less than a travesty if our game is not going in time for this milestone anniversary that is so important on so many fronts,” Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, told The Sporting News in a phone interview last week. “So you do hope and pray that the labor issues they’re trying to diligently work through will be resolved so that, Number 1, it won’t interrupt any of the games this year, but certainly that particular day of recognition, which is so monumental.”

The 75th anniversary of Robinson’s debut is a huge deal for Kendrick and his museum, not just on April 15 but all year. Their traveling exhibition, called Barrier Breakers, will launch soon and move around the country for the next few years. 

“The Barrier Breakers exhibit will chronicle all of the players who broke their respective major league team’s color barriers,” Kendrick said. “So, yes, it will focus on Jackie and his pioneering role joining the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, through Elijah ‘Pumpsie’ Green being the last to complete the integration cycle 12 years later with the Boston Red Sox. 

“We felt like it was really important, as the world is again being reminded of the courage that Jackie Robinson demonstrated being the first, but that we don’t forget those other integration pioneers in baseball who don’t always get their just due. Because I can tell you, it didn’t get any easier for Pumpsie Green in 1959 in Boston than it did for Jackie in 1947 in Brooklyn. They all went through trials and tribulations as they were trying to blaze a path to their major league career. They deserve to be more than just a footnote in major league history, so we felt compelled to tell all of their stories.”

A new addition to the Jackie Robinson collection will soon arrive in Kansas City. For 20 years, a marker identifying Robinson’s birthplace stood outside of Cairo, Ga. Last year, it was vandalized with several gun shots. It will be replaced, and the original defaced marker will be displayed in the Negro Leagues museum. 

It’s a fitting addition, considering that the NLBM was added to the Civil Rights Trail in 2021.  

“To me, that means that people are accepting the fact that our story is much bigger than the game of baseball. This is a civil rights story, and this is a social justice museum,” Kendrick said. “It’s just seen through the lens of baseball. So our addition to the Civil Rights Trail, how appropriate is that in the 75th year of commemorating Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier and how we believe that was the beginning of the civil rights movement in this country.”

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It would be wonderful to celebrate the anniversary on the field, not in a conference room. 

“We hope that the labor issue will be put to bed, that we get this resolved because we look forward to working with both Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association on a unified front to commemorate this milestone occasion,” Kendrick said. “This should be not only a central point for April 15, but it should be a point of emphasis for the All-Star Game and other activities that will be held this year. That’s how profound this is for the sport.”

Manfred has often spoken about urgency in finding a resolution and how it’s of the utmost importance to end this lockout because the fans are what matter. 

The actions of the owners in their proposals don’t convey the same approach, though. That seems especially true when reports like this surface.  

MLB understood its proposal carried no hope to facilitate a deal in days. The intention rather was to spark talk and trigger more give-and take. MLB clearly has more room for flexibility but seeks to first see greater movement from the players.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 12, 2022

The truth is this: Losing the Jackie Robinson Day celebration would be chalked up to collateral damage. In a labor issue with billions of dollars to be divided up, it’s just not high on the priority list for either side.

“I think the layman, the fan, has trouble seeing why there’s not more of a sense of urgency relating to this, regardless of the Jackie Robinson Day situation,” said Bob Lutz, a longtime journalist and the founder and executive director of League 42, a non-profit baseball league in Wichita, Kan. “But given that this is the 75th anniversary, beyond the damage it would do to the game, the PR and the look of it would be very distasteful, in my opinion.”

League 42 started in 2013 with 16 teams and 220 kids; money raised helped rebuild three baseball fields in historic McAdam Park — the football field there is named after Barry Sanders, and the basketball courts after Antonie Carr. 

“We’re starting our ninth year serving about 600 kids, 95 percent of them from the urban area of Wichita,” Lutz said. “The cost of the game could have been shutting these kids out, and we make it affordable for families and provide equipment and uniforms. We get them on the field and they play baseball.”

A life-size statue of Jackie Robinson stands next to the baseball fields. 

“We promote Jackie and his ideals to our kids,” Lutz said. “We’re always talking with them about Jackie. We’ve taken our kids to the Negro Leagues Museum. He’s an inspiration, and with the statue being at our complex, kids are aware of him and what he’s done. We also have a presentation of visuals around that statue that talk in greater length about Jackie and his contributions.”

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The 2022 League 42 season is set to start April 18, three days after Jackie Robinson Day. Well, three days after when Jackie Robinson Day is scheduled to happen.

The Sporting News reached out to both MLB and the MLBPA, but neither side offered a comment on the issue. 

“I just think it would be a terrible look for baseball not to be on the field on Jackie Robinson Day, on the 75th anniversary, just speaks for itself,” Lutz said. “Maybe they’ll realize they’ve got to get something done here.”

Fingers crossed.