They hit it out of the park!
The Brooklyn Historical Society opened an exhibition Wednesday to celebrate 70 years since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier — and one fan said the show will hit a home run in setting an example for kids who aspire to achieve the unthinkable.
“They have a lot of stereotypes about what they can’t do; we should be teaching them what they can do,” said the Rev. Dr. Valerie Oliver-Durrah, a Bedford-Stuyvesant resident who is on the society’s board of trustees. “The exhibit will hopefully encourage kids to know baseball in a different kind of way, seeing what Jackie Robinson did to break the barrier.”
The year-long show features an array of memorabilia, including the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1955 World Series Championship banner, programs, and photographs — such as a shot of him signing his first Major League contract in 1947 — a picture that Oliver-Durrah found especially moving.
“I liked the one where he signed the contract, it was very significant,” she said.
Oliver-Durrah sported a classic Dodgers jersey and cap for the occasion, and said it was great to see the original cap Robinson wore on display in the exhibit.
The show’s unveiling gave old-timers in attendance a chance to reminisce about watching games at the team’s legendary stadium in Flatbush, and sent some of them perhaps a bit too far down memory lane, Oliver-Durrah thought.
“People lingered to talk about Ebbets Field; I wondered, ‘How are those old folks getting home?’ They just didn’t want to stop!” she said.
The exhibit, titled: “Until Everyone Has It Made: Jackie Robinson’s Legacy,” will be on display on the third floor at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn Heights, through June 2018.
