A guide to exploring Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn
With the movie “42” bringing the Jackie Robinson story to a new generation, fans young and old may be inspired to visit some of the places in Brooklyn connected to the African-American athlete who integrated Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
In Coney Island, a statue portrays Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, the white Dodger who stood by him in the face of racist taunts. At the cemetery on the border of Brooklyn and Queens where Robinson is buried, admirers still leave baseballs and other mementos. And for fans who enjoy irony — or who remain bitter about the Dodgers’ departure to Los Angeles in 1957 — there’s a “No Ball Playing” sign at the housing complex where the Dodgers’ storied stadium, Ebbets Field, once stood.
Joseph Dorinson, author of “Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports and the American Dream,” says it’s no accident that the color barrier was broken by a Brooklyn team. “Jackie made it in Brooklyn, and no other place, because of the multicultural and ethnic diversity here,” he said. That diversity still exists here today.