Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
SPECULATING IT COULD JUST BE A
MATTER OF WEEKS.
>> ED LAVANDERA, THANK YOU VERY
MUCH FOR THAT.
>> WE'RE GOING TO GO TO AN
ATTACK ON AN ICONIC FIGURE.
>> YOU PLAYING BALL OR
SOCIALIZING?
>> PLAYING BALL.
>> PLAY BALL!
>> PLAYING BALL.
>> OBVIOUSLY THAT IS FROM THE
MOVIE BUT THAT MOMENT OF PEE WEE
REESE SHOWING SUCH SOLIDARITY
WITH JACKIE ROBINSON.
A VANDAL DEFACED IT WITH RACE
SLURS.
THE "DAILY NEWS" IS OFFERING A
$10,000 REWARD FOR THE VILLAIN
THEY CALL "RACIST ***."
WE TURN TO RON.
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US THIS
MORNING.
NEW YORKERS ARE CALLING THIS AN
INSULT, EVEN A DESECRATION
TODAY.
>> ABSOLUTELY.
I HAPPENED TO BE THERE YESTERDAY
FOR THE BALL GAME.
AND ON MY WAY TO THE BALL GAME I
HEARD ON THE CAR RADIO ABOUT THE
INCIDENT AT THE STATUE AND THE
STATUE HAS BEEN THERE FOR EIGHT
YEARS UNTOUCHED, EXCEPT PEOPLE
TOUCHING THE STATUE, CHILDREN
HAVE THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY
THEIR PARENTS AT THE STATUE.
IT'S NEVER BEEN VANDALIZED IN
EIGHT YEARS.
I WAS THERE IN 2005 DURING THE
DEDICATION WHEN RACHEL ROBINSON
WAS THERE AND SHARON ROBINSON,
HIS DAUGHTER AND PEE WEE REESE'S
WIFE WAS THERE AND JOHNNY PADRE,
THE PITCHING HERO FOR THE
DODGERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN
1955.
AND JACKIE WAS MY FAVORITE
PLAYER WHEN I WAS A KID.
I'M OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE GONE TO
EBBETTS FIELD AND I MET JACKIE
SEVERAL TIMES.
IF I HOLD UP A PHOTOGRAPH HERE,
THIS IS ME WITH RACHEL ROBINSON
IN 1997.
>> HOLD IT A LITTLE HIGHER.
THERE YOU GO.
>> AND I'M TELLING RACHEL AFTER
BALL GAMES THE PLAYERS WOULD
PARK THEIR CARS BEHIND A GAS
STATION AND THE PLAYERS WOULD
COME OUT AND SIGN AUTOGRAPHS.
AND I'M TELLING HER JACKIE
WOULDN'T LEAVE UNTIL EVERY KID
SHOOK HIS HAND OR HAD AN
AUTOGRAPH.
SHE SAID JACKIE DIDN'T WANT TO
DISAPPOINT THE CHILDREN.
THIS NEXT PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN
IN 1955 ON CAMERA DAY AT EBBETTS
FIELD.
YOU SEE A YOUNG BOY WITH HIS
CAMERA AND JACKIE HAS HIS ARM
AROUND DAVID WITH THE
PHOTOGRAPH.
GO AHEAD.
>> IT JUST SHOWS YOU THE KIND OF
GUY.
LISTEN, JACKIE ROBINSON WE KNOW,
PEE WEE REESE, TWO ICONIC MEN IN
BASEBALL, TWO MEN TO LOOK UP TO
IN THIS DAY AND AGE WHEN WE HEAR
ABOUT CHARACTERS -- PEOPLE
ACTING OUT OF CHARACTER WITH THE
DOPING AND WHAT HAVE YOU.
THIS REALLY HITS NEW YORKERS IN
THE WRONG PLACE THIS WEEK,
DOESN'T IT?
>> NO QUESTION ABOUT IT.
>> ALL OF BASEBALL REALLY.
>> THE THINGS THAT THIS PERSON
WROTE AT THE BASE OF THE STATUE
IS SO RIDICULOUS.
I MEAN CONSIDERING WHO JACKIE
WAS, WHAT HE REPRESENTED, THE
RACIAL HARMONY THAT THE STATUE
DEPICTS WITH A SOUTHERN WHITE
FELLOW FROM KENTUCKY, PEE WEE
REESE AND THEY BECAME BEST OF
FRIENDS.
THERE WAS A BOOK PUBLISHED A
NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, MOSTLY A
CHILDREN'S BOOK BUT ADULTS CAN
READ IT, TOO, CALLED
"TEAMMATES."
IT'S ABOUT HOW THEY MET, THEIR
FRIENDSHIP.
AND IN 1997 I INVITED SHARON
ROBINSON TO COME TO THE PUBLIC
SCHOOL WHERE I WAS TEACHING AND
SHE CAME AND WE HAD A WONDERFUL
DAY WITH SHARON ROBINSON,
BROUGHT ALL MY PHOTOGRAPHS, MY
COLLECTION AND IT WAS JUST A
GREAT DAY.
TO SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS
HAPPEN TODAY IS JUST TERRIBLE.
IT REALLY IS.
>> ABSOLUTELY.
AND OBVIOUSLY WHOEVER DID IT, A
KNUCKLEHEAD, TO SAY THE LEAST.
>> TO SAY THE LEAST, YES.
>> IF WE'RE GOING TO CALL NAMES
HERE.
WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.
>> HEY, NUMBER 1, YOU PLAYING
BALL OR SOCIALIZING?