Jan 24 2006
Now This is Petty
SI.com - MLB - Robinson’s daughter objects to Clemente honor:
“NEW YORK (AP) — The daughter of Jackie Robinson thinks Major League Baseball should not retire Roberto Clemente’s No. 21, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.The Hispanics Across America advocacy group wants Clemente’s number set aside the way the late Robinson’s No. 42 was nine years ago. But Sharon Robinson said that honor should remain for her father only.
‘To my understanding, the purpose of retiring my father’s number is that what he did changed all of baseball, not only for African-Americans but also for Latinos, so I think that purpose has been met,’ Robinson told the newspaper at a birthday celebration for her father in Times Square. ‘When you start retiring numbers across the board, for all different groups, you’re kind of diluting the original purpose.’”
How many basketball numbers have been retired? Hockey? Roberto Clemente was a great player who deserves the honor. It does nothing to demean Jackie Robinson.
