How MLB is commemorating Jackie Robinson Day
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Major League Baseball, its clubs and other partners, and the Jackie Robinson Foundation are once again working together to honor the legacy of the Dodgers icon throughout Jackie Robinson Day on Tuesday.
The tributes will be most prominent on the field. All MLB players and coaching staff will continue the tradition of wearing Robinson's No. 42 during Tuesday's games, with each team using a Dodger blue ¡®42¡¯ regardless of the club¡¯s normal colors. Players, managers, coaches and umpires will also wear a ¡®42¡¯ patch on the side of their hats.
In addition, players will wear Nike "Breaking Barriers" T-shirts during batting practice, and commemorative base jewels and lineup cards will be used in each game. For fans, royal blue socks and other Robinson-focused items will be available for purchase at stadium retail locations.
Other league-wide plans include a pregame Robinson tribute video produced by MLB Network and featuring former pro softball player AJ Andrews. The video will also be played at MLB.com, MLB Network, MLB's social platforms and elsewhere.
Off the field on Tuesday, MLB will host a volunteer event at the league office in which volunteers will put together 200 hygiene kits to be donated to Henry Street Settlement in support of its CONNECT program, which provides support for people facing mental health challenges.
Meanwhile, participants in local Nike Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities programs will tour the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York to learn more about Robinson's legacy. Guests for that event include MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Rachel Robinson, MLB Network host and former player Harold Reynolds and former Yankees pitchers CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, both members of the Commissioner's Ambassador Program.
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Other highlights on Tuesday will include Robinson-related programming throughout the day on MLB Network and "MLB The Show" game modes that honor Robinson's legacy.
MLB Network's Reynolds will report from the Jackie Robinson Museum on the network's newly Emmy-nominated "MLB Central" (10 a.m. ET) and again on the Emmy-winning "MLB Tonight: National Pregame Show" (5 p.m. ET). As part of the coverage from Studio 42, Reynolds will interview five MLB Develops alumni who are now all Division 1 baseball players and wear No. 42 to honor Robinson. They are Alton Davis II (University of Georgia), Troy Sanders (Grand Canyon University), RJ Austin (Vanderbilt University), Oliver Service (University of Texas) and Eddie King Jr. (Louisville).
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Finally, MLB's Jackie Robinson Training Complex -- once the Dodgers' Spring Training home -- in Vero Beach, Fla., will host a Minor League affiliate game between the Clearwater Threshers and the Palm Beach Cardinals at historic Holman Stadium, where Robinson once played. Gates open at 5 p.m. ET, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:42 p.m. ET.
The game, hosted by MLB, the Jackie Robinson Training Complex and the United Way of Indian River County, raises money to support vital programs and services in Indian River County.
MLB formally established April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day in 2004 to commemorate the day Robinson debuted for the Dodgers in 1947 to break the league's color barrier.