Finally took it in yesterday with Mrs. Cow. Very good movie. Recommend it.
It is hard to imagine just how difficult it had to be to be in his situation. You know Branch Rickey had to be under assault, too.
Something I learned by watching the movie, then verified later, was that both men were Methodists.
Reading up on Mr. Robinson taught me that he was a tremendous athlete, but, that baseball was not his best sport. He broadjumped around 25 feet and broke his older brother's records and his older brother was a Silver Medal winner in the Olympics. He played both football and basketball professionally in his off time.
Mr. Robinson was not the top black baseball player when he was chosen to join the Brooklyn Dodgers. But, Rickey felt he was the one most likely to stand up to all the abuse while still playing well.
Now, I want to see a movie about Larry Doby.
I had to look it up when you said he broad jumped 25 feet ... you probably mean long jump. Broad jump is done with your feet planted, no running start.
Edit ... nevermind ... it looks like the Olympic "long jump" used to be called the "broad jump". At the NFL combines leaping from a stationary position is called a broad jump.
I plan on going to see this one...hopefully this week.
You can bet when one about Stan Musial comes out, I'll be the first in line!!! 😀
Most of the stadium scenes were filmed at Rickwood Field in Birmingham. It is said to be the oldest baseball stadium in the USA.
> Now, I want to see a movie about Larry Doby.
Me too.
My father grew up in Paterson HJ and lived walking distance from Hinchcliffe stadium where the Negro Leagues played their games. It was the home field of the N Y Black Yankees. Dad told me that he had seen many games as a kid hanging around the stadium and the great ball players of the Negro League. The Newark Eagles were a very good team and as you may now the K C Monarchs are legendary.
Lary Doby went to HS in Paterson at Eastside HS and was an excellent all sport athlete. He was an integrated player on the teams before WW2.
He was about 3 years younger than my father.
from Wiki:
Doby lettered in track and was an all-state athlete in baseball, football as a wide receiver and basketball while at Paterson Eastside High School. Eastside won a state championship in football and the team was subsequently invited to participate in a game in Florida. After the promoters of the game informed the team Doby, the only black player on the team, would not be allowed to participate, the team voted in support of Doby to forgo the trip
Sports does have cultural and political significance in society.
Picked up a book yesterday and started resding last night about soccer transforming the Dutch society called Brilliant Orange. Interesting hypothesis by the author.
