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By Mark Vasto
Seventy years ago, Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. For this column, we remember that juncture and offer some of the other greatest moments in baseball history – moments that transcend the game and teach us more about life in general than we thought possible at the time.
Earning It
Going into the 1941 season-ending doubleheader, Ted Williams was statistically hitting .400, and his manager offered to sit him out so he could accomplish the feat. Williams, a hero flying ace in World War II, refused to back into the accomplishment – either he was a .400 hitter or he wasn’t. He went 4-5 and 2-3 in the series, and finished the season at .406.
Under Pressure
When Roger Maris came to the N.Y. Yankees via Kansas City in 1960, he was derided as a surly hick and an outsider by the hostile New York press. When Maris and Mickey Mantle began to make a run at Ruth’s record 60 home runs that summer, the press focused on him with the intensity of a magnifying glass concentrating light from a thousand burning suns. Losing both his hair and his mind, Maris finally broke Ruth’s record in the last game of the season.
Tearing Down the Wall
Branch Ricky and Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, and baseball’s commissioner Ford Frick spelled it out for anyone (including the St. Louis Cardinals, who threatened to strike) who didn’t get it: “This is the United States of America, and one citizen has as much right to play as another.”
Justice in the Face of Prejudice
Despite death threats and the thick air of the South’s remaining prejudice heavy in the night in 1974 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, “Hammerin'” Hank Aaron persevered and surpassed Babe Ruth’s home run record with his 715th career homer. Today, Barry Bonds, another black ballplayer, wears the home-run crown with 762 after surpassing Aaron’s mark of 755. But after the example Aaron set, it just doesn’t seem the same.
The Luckiest Man Alive
On May 2, 1939, Lou Gehrig voluntarily removed himself from a game after playing in a record 2,130 games in a row. Within two months’ time, Gehrig learned he was dying of a debilitating muscle disease that now bears his name. On July 4 of that same year, Gehrig said goodbye to baseball and his fans by acknowledging the incredible fortune he had in just being able to play baseball for a living. Recordings of the event show a weakened Gehrig uttering his famous lines of gratitude with the echoing sound of feedback, which served to underscore his every word: “Today … I consider myself … the luckiest man … on the face of the Earth.”
Mark Vasto is a veteran sportswriter who lives in New Jersey.
(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
