by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

#42 Honored today at all MLB parks on it’s 67th anniversary

ANAHEIM–All Major League teams today will honor Jackie Robinson’s legacy as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, by wearing Robinson’s number 42.

Sixty-seven years after Jackie Robinson played on April 15, 1947 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. Brooklyn Dodgers played the Boston Braves.

Jackie Robinson batted second in the lineup, played first base, and got a hit in three at bats. The attendance at Ebbets Field, 26,623, Dodgers won the game 5-3.

Here below the lineup for the Dodgers on that historic day:

Eddie Stanky 2B

Jackie Robinson 1B

Pete Reiser CF

Dixie Walker RF

Gene Hermansky LF

Bruce Edwards C

Spider Jorgensen 3B

Pee Wee Reese SS

Joe Hatten P

Starting today’s action in Major League Baseball among the 30 teams, there are a total of 67 African-American players, 7.8% of all players, with a high of 18.7% in 1981, according to the Society for Baseball Research(SABR).

Three teams today do not have an African-American player on their roster, Arizona Diamondbacks, St Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. The 7.8% percent today is the lowest since 1958.

Major League Baseball is trying to revitalize the game among young African-Americans across the country. With six urban academies, there are 220,000 kids playing in reviving Baseball in Inner cities programs.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Vice President of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk