(Wichita) With the return of a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson to Kansas, some of the baseball icon’s biggest fans are breathing a sigh of relief.
The original sculpture depicting Robinson posing with a stick over his shoulder was cut off at the ankles in January, leaving only Robinson’s cleats at Wichita’s McAdams Park.
The statue is not just a work of art or a tribute to major league baseball’s first black player, according to Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
This statue had become a symbol: a symbol of hope, a symbol of inspiration, of the core values that were part of Jackie’s legacy. Those values were present in the stadium.
Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
He said it was difficult to explain the theft of the statue to the 600 children who play in the 42 League, named after Robinson’s number with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team with which he broke major league baseball’s racial barrier in 1947.
People from across the United States have come together to help replace the statue, six months after thieves destroyed the original.
“It reminds us that there have always been more good people than bad people in this world,” Kendrick said. “Good people have stepped up. And it renews my faith in humanity.”
Former players including CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances will participate in a ceremony Monday night to unveil an identical statue that now stands in the park where Ligue 42 plays.
The league received an outpouring of support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after news of the statue’s theft shocked the community and spread across the country. The donations helped fund the statue’s replacement, as well as improvements to the plaza where it stands, the nonprofit league’s facilities and its programs, said Bob Lutz, who heads League 42.
The reconstructed statue is identical to the original, as the mold was still usable. Unveiled in 2021, it was created by artist John Parsons, a friend of Mr. Lutz who died in 2022.
Firefighters found burned remains of the original statue five days after it was lost.
The thief, Ricky Alderete, pleaded guilty and was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $41,500 in restitution for stealing the statue, an act he said was fueled by his fentanyl addiction.
The cleats from the original statue have found a new home at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945 before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. In 1946, he played one season with the Montreal Royals of the International League.
His impact was felt beyond sports: he galvanized the civil rights movement.