“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives” – Jackie Robinson
Today the Angels will don 42 in memory of Jackie Robinson who played his first MLB game 74 years ago yesterday. MLB has officially retired 42 league wide. Can you remember the last Angel to wear 42?
MLB isn’t just virtue signaling with the jerseys, either. They are doing a lot more in Jackie’s honor.
And while I love Jackie’s place in baseball and American history, this is yet another of MLB’s attempts to push a narrative that isn’t really true. Moses Fleetwood Walker played major league ball over sixty years before Jackie.
Jackie definitely deserves his recognition and adoration. So does Walker.
Baseball going from somewhat integrated to racially divided and back is an interesting story. One that is touched on in a book I am finally finishing, “How Baseball Happened,” and will be discussing with the author for you soon.
Onto modern day:
Fangraphs delves into how much the Angels benefit when Ohtani hits and when he pitches. We are watching history, folks.
The Angels and the Reds are both off to hot starts. Which is more likely to keep winning? Hard not to take the team with Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon here. But Cincy’s division is there for the taking.
What a bizarre road trip. Weather, injuries, fluke plays. Here’s a round up of the Angels first adventure away from Anaheim.
Looking ahead a little bit, Dylan Bundy ranks as one of the Top 10 free agents for next off season. Minasian, phone call, extension, please.
The Angels lost prospect Jose Soriano in the Rule V draft to the Pirates. They are holding onto him for now by keeping him on the IL. They won’t be able to do that forever, but they’ll likely be in last place when they activate him so consider him gone.
Last off season Carlos Rodon was non tendered by the White Sox. Wednesday night he threw a no hitter. One moved toe from Perez from being a perfecto. Then he gave a great interview that really made me a fan.
Apparently their failure to buy the Mets was just too much of them. A-Rod and J-Lo have officially broken up. Lopez currently has as many rings as the Cowboys.
Long form reading? Not this week. Watch 42 and enjoy the great performances of Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman, who was definitely taken from us too soon.
Larry Doby deserve more recognition…..Indians and maybe even the American League could honor him.
Definitely. As does Hank Aaron. Again, not to diminish Jackie’s story but Aaron integrated the Southern League. We’re talking about riding buses to play in the Deep South.
And before them, Joe Louis who was a big help to Jackie.
On the one hand I’m so inspired and awed by these men. On the other hand it makes me want to cry that their inspiring stories were ever needed.
If only Jefferson, Adams, Madison, et al. had had the courage to stand up to the slave owners, America’s story would have turned out much differently.
What’s weird to realize when you study it, and really unfortunate, is that the USA actually addressed slavery about as early as it could. Pre-revolution era emancipation took hold strongly in the north, where there were fewer ex-slaves to deal with. But then we had the Revolution. That basically ended in 1784. After that the states were all independent until 1788. Then you had a whole bunch of anti-Federalist rebellions, Torrey insurrections and the British threatening still for the next 20 years. Spain/Mexico was actually a worry too. The War of 1812 was basically a first civil war and we didn’t fare well in it. Add to that the large Indian conflict in Ohio and the fact that a whole bunch of white “mud people” were heading west and tolerating just about no input from the government….. it took until about 1830 for the USA to be on solid enough footing to where they could start to really argue about the slavery issue, and even then they weren’t really that solid, which was why you got fighting in South Ohio/Indiana, Kansas and Missouri…. and then a big Civil War.
Today it seems like we believe the North and South both just shrugged their shoulders and tried not to look at slavery because RACISM. But even in the Southern states there was a lot of argument and conflict over what was largely seen as a failed system that was a relic of being a colonial supplier to English textile mills and was going to need to be done away with, not to mention many people all over early America saw it as plain evil. The country’s foundations were just never strong enough to get the job done right and the result was a pretty awful war almost 100 years after a “free and equal” country was created.
Maddison, Jefferson, etc didn’t really have a leg to stand on.
While we are far from perfect, I read a statement saying we are the only nation to fight a war to end slavery; to send our young men off to die in an effort to free other men. While I’m no history professor, I don’t recall any other Civil War being fought primarily over this issue.
Obviously Jackie, Hank, Doby, etc. weren’t fighting for freedom they were/are fighting prejudice.
Honestly, I also get emotional over Negro Leagues stuff. In the face of so much prejudice those men found a way to not only play the game they love but to truly become the focal point and point of pride in their communities.
Well said by both of you…….looking how far we have come as a country since then, and even since the 1960’s. With more to do. But, what we were as a country in 1770, 1860 and 1960 is how we are judged today, instead of how far we’ve come, this will be the new normal.
Though I’ve never traveled to experience Europe or other parts of the globe first hand, I know many that immigrated to this country.
From Mexico, Great Britain, Greece, Argentina, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, few others, all claim that today, this is by far the least racist country they’ve ever seen. A good country, with good people.
They had their moral high horse they could stand on, but for practical reasons they decided to dismount. The first draft of the Declaration of Independence that Jefferson submitted had strong anti-slavery sentiment in it, comparing King George to a slave owner, etc., but then Jefferson caved and agreed to strike all of that language out to appease the rural colonies who would refuse to join the revolutionary cause if it looked like the more urban colonies were going to favor abolishing slavery.
And if the southern, rural colonies were not going to join the fight, the British would have easily put down the rebellion.
I wonder if it would have been better just to suck it up, pay the high taxes, and remain British subjects. In an ironic twist, these early Americans were saddled with high taxes for years anyway because the country had to repay the enormous debts it took on to finance the war.
We’d be playing cricket, then. A huge part of baseball’s emergence and growth was due to the desire for a non-British game. Cricket was basically labeled an aristocratic British game while baseball was a sign of patriotism.
Most early baseball players (1830s) were cricket players and by 1850 baseball had taken over in NY.
Just my baseball related aside to the conversation.
As a baseball fan, I feel as though I should broaden my rudimentary understanding of cricket, but I’m too GA.
My friend just recently brought me up to speed re cricket. It does have a lot in common with baseball. I would love to see MLB players play a cricket match.
I’ve actually played it. It’s kind of weird, but fun.
Jefferson WAS a slave owner. Adams was an abolitionist. Not sure about Madison, but he was also from VA.
Cricket is amazing! Glad to see it get some conversation.
Even better when you have two crickets.
Ask Buddy
Mo Vaughn was last to wear 42 for the angels. While I’m sure many here remember terrible FA signings before, his was the first where I understood the concept of money and how much we just wasted.
On a different but same note, I purchased an Angels 42 jersey in 2012, just wish it was worn by someone else than CJ Wilson, who’s contract I also didn’t like… but in looking back he had a good first 2 years of the contract before it looked awful towards the end.
Great stuff on Jackie.
Uhh… CJ Wilson wore #33 for the Halos. Vaughn was the last to wear 42. I’m confused.
CJ wore it on Jackie Robinson Day.
Ironically I was going through some stuff and pulled up a picture my wife and I took with CJ, Shoey, and Heaney on our trip to Seattle a few years back.
The jersey just has Angels 42 on front, regular A and Angels patches on shoulders, then 42 in the back with no name.
Sorry for the confusion.
Ah, gotcha. LOL
Curtain and Jeff… best and worst Angels merchandise purchases you’ve made (not gifts)?
Anything and everything Pujols in 2012. I was all-in excited when they signed him. Now I just got junk hanging in my closet with “Pujols 5” on the back, don’t even want to wear them to the games.
Thats why I went with CJ over Albert on the jersey purchase but am thankful it doesn’t have his name on it. I was afraid Albert wouldn’t look good too soon into the 10 year contract (wish I was wrong). Mentoring Trout may be the best thing he ever does in an angels uniform.
I hear you on any ‘gym’ style clothing Jeff. They always seem good in the moment but quality and/or style quickly make them obsolete. Wish I got more trout stuff for my son too. I’ve gotten a lot of Nolan Ryan stuff and am always hopeful I can get an autograph in person of Trout.
Thanks for your input Twe, I consider season tickets merch. Splitting them while living in Ventura county was probably my worst purchase just because getting to/from games was so long and tickets were hard to get give away to friends/family for same reason.
Even having a 27 game plan while working in Irvine sucked at times. I’d pick out my games in February having no idea if that random Tuesday in June would be a busy day at work or not. A few days a year I’d spend an hour or so trying to give away tickets. And my favorite games to attend, Sunday, had tickets on StubHub for half of face value most of the time.
The premium e vouchers were a godsend. I could buy my truly premium games like Opening Day or Dodgers then use vouchers the rest of the way. Completely flexible, good selection of games, and I’d often sit in club or box seats that would normally cost much more than the $20 voucher.
Full disclosure: I generally don’t do Friday or Saturday nights so there weren’t really any games blacked out that I wanted to attend.
I’m much closer now so like to find last minute tickets and go. I’ve done 3rd party (for reasons you mentioned) after ending season ticket splitting.
E vouchers sound like a good option. I didn’t see any when offered this year that looked great but with amount Im going (with kids loving it) I might as well get a 10 game plan or something.
Vouchers are not offered this year.
Worst: I once bought these red baggy basketball style shorts with the Angels logo on one leg.
They looked just as cool on a tall skinny white guy as you’d imagine.
And like three Pujols shirts his first year.
Best: Mike Trout autographed ball his rookie year. Was only $139 bucks at the time. Bought at the ballpark.
They had 3 and I almost bought all 3. But I didn’t want to be the a hole who bought them all and didn’t leave any behind. Now I wish I’d bought a second one for my son. I might some day but now they are $600.
If merchandise includes season tickets…..2010 thru 2013, stopping in 2014 after 4 horrible years, starting again in 2015 because of 2014. Definitely a bad purchase.
Game today against the Twins is at 6:40 pm/Pct. Roster will definitely change and Jay will not be a starter.
I’m thinking Ward comes up, Peña comes back from IL with Rowen getting sent back down. I’d like Jay back on taxi squad and Schebler on the 40 man roster but I have to admit I don’t know how much that stuff works (options, sent down, being available on waivers).
I can understand you predicament as I also am not sure because I am not current enough with the new rules and concepts. I have never been a fan of Jay, so I would rather give Ward a chance with Schebler and even Marsh a shot in the OF spots. I think that when you play at home there is no Taxi Squad, but you can draw then from the minors.
To my understanding now that we’re home we can make any roster move we want, with normal roster implications.
So Jay will need to be removed from the 40 man. Schebler would need to be added.