{"id":4127,"date":"2024-10-25T05:43:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T09:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4127"},"modified":"2024-10-25T05:44:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T09:44:55","slug":"stand-by-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/stand-by-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Stand By Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball\u2019s color barrier on April 15, 1947.

It is difficult to comprehend the sheer hatred he had to face from many fans across the country, even in New York City, where he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Death threats and taunts were everyday realities.

The movie 42 <\/em>(named for Robinson\u2019s uniform number) portrays a critical moment early in that first season.

Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese, one of baseball\u2019s most popular players, approaches Robinson before the start of a game at Cincinnati\u2019s Crosley Field. The fans are showering Robinson with racial epithets. 

Reese does the unthinkable. He throws his arm around the black player. And stands there alongside him.

Here\u2019s the movie\u2019s depiction<\/a> of that moment.

No pictures of the actual event survive. But the two men and their families routinely affirmed its reality.

Mark Reese said about his dad a half century later, \u201cMy father had done his own soul searching, and he knew that some fans, teammates, and yes, some family members didn\u2019t want him to play with a black man. But my father listened to his heart, and not to the chorus.\u201d

Pee Wee, two years before his death in 1999, admitted he was amazed that his quiet gesture had become iconic.

He told the New York Times<\/em>, \u201cSomething in my gut reacted at the moment. Something about what? The unfairness of it? The injustice of it? I don\u2019t know.\u201d

Rachel Robinson, Jackie\u2019s widow, has said, \u201cI remember Jackie talking about Pee Wee\u2019s gesture the day it happened. It came as such a relief to him, that a teammate and the captain of the team would go out of his way in such a public fashion to express friendship.\u201d

Robinson himself told Arnold Rampersad, his biographer: \u201cPee Wee kind of sensed the sort of helpless, dead feeling in me and came over and stood beside me for a while\u2026 He was standing by me, I could tell you that.\u201d 

The hecklers in the stands grew quiet that day. \u201cI will never forget it,\u201d Robinson said.

The movie adds some dialogue that almost certainly did not occur. Reese, trying to lighten the moment, says, \u201cMaybe tomorrow we\u2019ll all wear 42. That way they won\u2019t tell us apart.\u201d 

In recent years that wish has come true. April 15 has been designated Jackie Robinson Day by Major League Baseball. On that day every player on every team \u2013 whether black, white, Latino, or Asian \u2013 wears the number 42. Even the umpires join in.

On this day in which Reese and Robinson\u2019s old team, the Dodgers \u2013 now making their home in Los Angeles \u2013 begin the World Series against their traditional nemesis, the New York Yankees, the long-term effect of their courage will be on full display.

Few of us are summoned to the drama of being cultural trailblazers like Jackie Robinson. His call required a special kind of perseverance.

But every one of us is called to come alongside those who would be blessed by even a simple, shared gesture of partnership and respect.

As the apostle Paul put it, \u201cRejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn\u201d (Romans 12:15).

Do it today.

Literally or figuratively, put your arm around someone.

Let them know they aren\u2019t standing alone.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball\u2019s color barrier on April 15, 1947. It is difficult to comprehend the sheer hatred he had to face from many fans across the country, even in New York City, where he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Death threats and taunts were everyday realities. The movie 42… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[828],"class_list":["post-4127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4127"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4130,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions\/4130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}