NEW YORK -- By proclamation of the Commissioner, for the second consecutive year as Major League Baseball celebrates the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking its color barrier, any big league player can wear the late Hall of Famer's famous No. 42 in action that day.
"All players have the option. It's entirely up to them," Commissioner Bud Selig told MLB.com on Monday. "Candidly, I hope they all do it."
Next Tuesday is the 61st anniversary of the day Robinson put on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in a regular-season game for the first time, thus re-integrating Major League Baseball forever. This year's signature event will be at Shea Stadium, as the Nationals visit the Mets, whose manager, Willie Randolph, grew up in Brooklyn and has often said he's a great admirer of Robinson.
There's a full slate of games on Tuesday. Robinson also will be honored in each of the other 14 Major League ballparks where games are scheduled. Shea is in its last season, to be replaced next year by nearby Citi Field, where the Jackie Robinson rotunda will replicate the famous entry to Ebbets Field. That's the tiny long-gone ballpark one borough over from Queens where Robinson went out to play first base that day in 1947. The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, and the grand old game was never the same.
Selig will probably be at Shea, he said on Monday. Rachel Robinson, Jackie's seemingly ageless widow and the founder of the now 35-year-old Jackie Robinson Foundation -- which offers college scholarships to underprivileged minority students -- will be there for the ceremony and a tour of the partially completed new ballpark that's targeted to open in time for the 2009 season.
MLB.TV will have a part in the evening, too.
From 6-7 p.m. ET, during the nightly WhipAround show, MLB.TV's Harold Reynolds will report from the Shea Stadium field, and the pregame ceremonies will be aired live.
And when the Mets take the field, some of their players will run out there wearing the famous number that Selig retired on the occasion of Robinson's 50th anniversary in 1997.
Robinson was simply issued that number as a matter of course by then equipment manager John Griffin upon his arrival in Brooklyn. Robinson wasn't the first or the last player to wear the famous jersey for the Dodgers. In 1939, George Jeffcoat did so when he pitched one game. And long after Robinson retired in 1956, it was issued again to Ray Lamb, a pitcher from USC. But Lamb was so uncomfortable wearing the number in 1969, he gave it up when the season ended.
After that, it was never worn again by a Dodger and was retired by the club in 1972, a decade after Robinson was elected to the Hall of Fame.
The idea of "unretiring" Robinson's number last year was the brainchild of Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr., who personally petitioned the Commissioner for the opportunity.
"It's just my way of giving that man his due respect," Griffey said at the time. "I just called Bud and asked him if I could do it. He made a couple of phone calls and said, 'Yeah.' We had a good conversation. It was about me wearing it on that day, and only that day."
Other players followed suit.
Barry Bonds, MLB's all-time leader with 762 homers and then of the Giants, quickly accepted at the behest of Peter Magowan, the team's managing general partner. When all was said and done, Andruw Jones, Dontrelle Willis, Torii Hunter, Jermaine Dye, Derrek Lee, Mike Cameron, Gary Sheffield and, C.C. Sabathia were among the stars who honored Robinson by wearing the number.
"It meant a lot," said Sabathia, who started for the Indians last year and defeated the White Sox that day. "I'm just excited I got a chance to pitch. To be able to pitch and play on this day was huge."
Full squads, such as the Dodgers, Pirates, Cardinals, Astros and Brewers pledged their allegiance to Robinson as the 25 players on each team wore No. 42. Dodger Stadium was the scene of the central ceremony for last year's 60th anniversary.
"I think it's great," Selig said about last year's No. 42 tribute that is now spreading into this April. "Just their understanding of history and what that man did for so many people is so important. Believe me, it makes me very happy."
Mariano Rivera, of course, has worn No. 42 since he joined the Yankees for good in 1995, and he was among a handful of players grandfathered in when Selig retired Robinson's number throughout baseball. Rivera is the only remaining active player who still wears it day-in and day-out.
"You're not just talking about any player or any person," Rivera said about the legacy left by Robinson. "The respect that he had for the game, the passion that he had for the game, how he played the game -- we should respect that and tribute that."
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