A longtime dream and on the drawing board longer than the career of the man it honours, the Jackie Robinson Museum opened in Manhattan on Tuesday with a gala attended by the baseball player’s wife who broke the racial barrier and two of his children.
Rachel Robinson, who turned 100 on July 19, watched the half-hour outdoor celebration in a wheelchair in 27C heat, then cut a ribbon to conclude a project launched in 2008.
His 72-year-old daughter, Sharon, also attended the event in a wheelchair, and his 70-year-old son, David, addressed the crowd of around 200 people seated in folding chairs arranged in a section off Varick Street, New York’s main thoroughfare where the 19,380-square-foot museum is located.
“The problems in baseball, the problems that Jackie Robinson faced in 1947, they’re still there,” David Robinson said. Equal opportunity is always complex. »
Rachel Robinson had announced the construction of the museum on April 15, 2008, the date of the 61e anniversary of the day Jackie broke MLB’s racial barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
An influence beyond baseball
Robinson became National League Rookie of the Year, National League Batting Champion in 1949 and MVP, seven-time All-Star selection and World Series winner in 1955. averaged .313, 141 home runs and 200 stolen bases in 11 seasons and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962.
Robinson, who died in 1972, was influential beyond baseball, galvanizing significant portions of American public opinion and spurring the civil rights movement.
“There is nowhere on the planet where the dream is attached to our name — or the name of our country,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams. There is no German dream. There is no French dream. There is no Polish dream. But there is an American dream. And this man and woman took that dream and made America and baseball say that dream wasn’t just a piece of paper. […]. We are bigger thanks to the noh 42 and because he had an amazing wife who understood that dream and that vision. »
A gala dinner was held Monday evening, a preview of the grand opening of the museum, which contains 350 items including equipment and artefacts such as Robinson’s minor league contract with the Montreal Royals for the 1946 season, for US$600 a month, and his 1947 rookie contract, for US$5,000. The museum also features a collection of 40,000 images and 450 hours of video footage.
A 15-piece band performed at the ceremony, which was attended by former pitcher CC Sabathia, former National League president Len Coleman, former Mets owner Fred Wilpon and the manager of the Players Association, Tony Clark, and Hall of Fame President, Josh Rawitch. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here,” Sabathia said. I couldn’t have fulfilled my dream of playing Major League Baseball. »
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, director Spike Lee (wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers cap) and former tennis star Billie Jean King were also in attendance.
“It looks like we’re more divided than ever,” King said. People like Jackie Robinson are great reminders every morning, every night that we need to do the right thing every day. »
According to initial projections, the museum was to open in 2010 and cost $25 million. The recession caused a delay.
The groundbreaking finally came on April 27, 2017, when the Jackie Robinson Foundation announced that it had raised 23.5 million of the planned 42 million and that the museum was due to open in 2019. further delays, and the total raised rose to $38 million, including $2.6 million from New York City.
Tickets will cost $18 for adults and $15 for students, seniors and children when the museum opens to the public on September 5. The second floor includes an education center, part of a plan dreamed up by Rachel Robinson.