Today April 15, 2009 all baseball players will wear # 42 honoring his accomplishments and contributions to the game. Little known fact is JR stole home plate 19x. Think about that... Think about how the pitcher was scared shit JR might get him! Think about the balls he had knowing he's gonna try and get that! Think about how fast JR must have been... Know that the last time a player in MLB stole home plate successfully was in 1996, done by two different players in the same year. One in the NL the other in the AL... [youtube]6XY-XshGhMU[/youtube] He looks out to me... The record for the most thefts of home plate belong to the infamous Ty Cobb. 54x aaaaaaaaand he's the only player to steal 2nd, 3rd and home plate in succession 4x. Baseball players today are kinda pussy...
Ty Cobb will prolly have that steals record forever. more strategy in the game today, plus ERYONE is on steroids, and most teams play for the long ball. JR---only man in the college and mlb hall of fame he also lettered in track at UCLA madd athlete
So many people know that Jackie Robinson is the one that broke the color barrier but what alot people forget is how truly great a baseball player he was. Winning the rookie of the year award and then an MVP 2 years later. In JR's day a 1-0 or 2-1 game was typical, so stealing bases and getting in scoring position was must more of a benefit, now it seems with the smaller ballparks and the stronger players it is no longer a benefit to steal bases. But I guess you have to also consider the fact that most pitcher back then probably could not top 90 mph so those extra thousandths of seconds Im sure made a world of difference. On a side note on this day I am glad to see that the percentage of black players in MLB has actually gone up. In 2007 it reached its all-time low of 8.2% it now sits at 10.2%, not a huge leap but it is better than a lower number.
He lettered in four different sports at UCLA: baseball, basketball, football, and track. The scary thing is that baseball wasn't even his best sport!
good info Saty!!!! jackie was a beast athletically... only dude i can think of that comes close, maybe Jim Brown..... in the LACROSSE hall of fame and nfl hall of fame
Co-sign. I keep telling these young cats out here who wanna hoop all the damn time like no other sport was ever invented. Baseball is a great game, and I just hope that young black men will appreciate it once again.
I coach a boys baseball team, and I always promote young rising black American players such as this one:
Jackie Robinson changed American sports forever. He is perhaps the most important sports figure of all time!
