Tuesday, April 23 was “Jackie Robinson Night” at Nationals Park, a mere 8 days after a similar event was commemorated at stadiums around the rest of the big leagues. A no. 42 emblem was unveiled on the outfield wall, and several Nats players wore no. 42 on their uniforms. Uni Watch‘s Paul Lukas, clearly not the sort of person to celebrate New Year’s Eve in February, was less than impressed with Washington’s efforts.
Why wasn™t the 42 already on the wall? Like, it was already retired, right? I realize it™s a new stadium, but so what? The number was already supposed to be retired on an MLB-wide basis.
¢ Why did the Nats get to dress players in 42 again? Okay, so they were on the road last week, but so what? Is every road team from April 15th gonna get to do this? I disagree with people who say that the annual April 15th celebration cheapens the number, but I do think it got cheapened a bit last night. I realize some people will say, œAnything that raises awareness of Jackie Robinson is a good thing, and I generally agree with that, but turning his memory into a way to add another promotion to your home schedule is totally bogus. The whole point of April 15th is that it™s a one-day thing ” a tribute day, a special day. If we start to make every day special, the practical result is that no days are.
¢ Why was Ray King wearing white cleats in the preame ceremony? He switched to black for the game.
¢ While we™re at it, why is Ray King so fat?
That’s a tough question to answer, but perhaps King will be dining on Triple A food from this day forward. A smaller per diem doesn’t necessarily mean healthier living, however.
SNY has added Harold Reynolds to their Mets pre and postgame studio panel. I don’t want to make too much of Reynolds’ alleged zipper problems, nor those of new SNY colleague Darryl Strawberry, but let’s just say Chris Cotter should probably try to dress for work a little more conservatively.
The Mets are currently trailing the Nats, 8-4 in the last of 7th, the key blow being a Felipe Lopez grand slam off Aaron Heilman. The latter’s propensity for allowing devastating home runs this season makes me wish Dr. Allan Lans were still available. Not for Heilman mind you, but for yours truly.
And I still gotta ask: Why is JR day on tax day? To insure no one can afford #42 merch? Why not dedicate the all-star game to him when the whole country is watching and not wearing real numbers makes more sense?
And thanks for the photo of Esther Rolle throwing out that ceremonial first pitch, I didn’t even know she was from DC.
Ben
A lot of people do their taxes way before the deadline, so that point is moot.
Also, we’ve celebrated the living daylights out of #42 in recent years. At some point it gets a little condescending. Retiring the number on all the teams as they did about ten years ago was great. Having the Indians play the Braves in the Civil Rights Game…not so great. I’ve never been one for empty symbolism and it seems to me that over-celebrating #42 shields MLB from all kinds of politically incorrect accusations. Enough!