From the Archives: Jackie Robinson honored at ceremony; Bill Clinton says he would want society to do better

While President Clinton urged America to pursue Jackie Robinson’s dream of racial equality Tuesday night, baseball ensured that Robinson forever will be remembered.

Robinson’s uniform number, 42, was retired throughout major league baseball on the 50th anniversary of the breaking baseball’s color barrier.

“In honor of Jackie,” acting Commissioner Bud Selig said, “Major League Baseball is taking the unprecedented step of retiring his uniform number in perpetuity. Number 42, from this day forward, will never again be issued by a major league club. Number 42 belongs to Jackie Robinson for the ages.”

The players who currently wear No. 42 — Mo Vaughn of the Boston Red Sox, Butch Huskey of the New York Mets, Tom Goodwin of the Kansas City Royals, Buddy Groom of the Oakland Athletics and Marc Sagmoen of the Texas Rangers — will be permitted to wear the number for the remainder of their careers.

The game, celebrating the day when Robinson played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field, about 15 miles from Shea Stadium, attracted a crowd announced at 34,596. The Mets gave away 19,451 tickets, but most of the crowd departed after President Clinton’s address.

“It is hard to believe that it was 50 years ago at Ebbets Field that a 28-year-old rookie changed the face of baseball and the face of America forever,” Clinton said. “Jackie Robinson scored the go-ahead run that day, we’ve all been trying to catch up ever since.
“Today, I think every American should say a special word of thanks to Jackie Robinson and to Branch Rickey and to the members of the Dodger team who made him one of their own, and proved that America is a better, stronger, richer country when we all work together and give everyone a chance.

“And today I think we should remember that Jackie Robinson’s legacy did not end with baseball, for afterward he spent the rest of his life trying to open other doors and keep them open for all kinds of people. He knew that education, not sports, was the key to success in life for nearly everyone. And he took that message to young people wherever he went.

“I can’t help thinking that if Jackie Robinson were here with us tonight he would say that we have done a lot of good in the last 50 years, but we can do better.”