Phillies to fete Robinson before and during game

Today is Jackie Robinson Day throughout Major League Baseball.

To honor the famed Brooklyn Dodgers infielder's breaking of baseball's color barrier 60 years ago today, the Phillies and visiting Houston Astros will salute Robinson most vividly at Citizens Bank Park. All uniformed personnel will wear jerseys with 42, Robinson's number, which was retired throughout the game 10 years ago.

The Phillies will mark the anniversary in other ways before the 1:35 p.m. game. They include:

A salute to Bill Cash, Mahlon Duckett, Stanley Glenn and Harold Gould, the four living members of the Philadelphia Stars, the Negro league team that played here from 1934 to 1950 and won the 1934 Negro National League pennant.

An appearance members of the Tuskegee Airmen, who made history by enlisting to become America's first black military airmen during World War II in 1941.

Recognition of the Marian Anderson Recreation Center's 10- and 11-year-old Monarchs baseball team that, 10 years ago, took a multistate barnstorming tour in a 1947 bus as a tribute to the Negro leagues and Jackie Robinson.

A presentation of the Phillies Charities Inc.'s Jackie Robinson Scholarship, given annually to area baseball players who display leadership on and off the field and have at least a 3.0 grade-point average.

This year's recipient is Matt Howard, a Phillies RBI participant who will attend Marist College in the fall.

Bryn Mawr native Donna Allie, a single mother who made her home-cleaning service into a commercial cleaning company, who will be honored as the Phillies' "Most Valuable Minority Business Partner."

A silent auction featuring items signed by former and current Phillies and the four living members of the Philadelphia Stars will be held at the First Base Gate Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to benefit the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

All fans attending the game will receive a Jackie Robinson booklet paying tribute to his life and a schedule magnet with a Jackie Robinson logo.