Jackie Robinson Foundation

As one of six kids growing up in West Oak Lane, Deirdre Littlejohn knew that if she wanted to go to college, she'd have to find a way to pay for it herself. While searching online at Central High School, she found the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "There were all these questions on the application," the 19-year-old recalled. "What do you feel about your role in society? How can you change the world? But I really like answering essay questions. " That skill served Littlejohn well.

As one of six kids growing up in West Oak Lane, Deirdre Littlejohn knew that if she wanted to go to college, she'd have to find a way to pay for it herself. While searching online at Central High School, she found the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "There were all these questions on the application," the 19-year-old recalled. "What do you feel about your role in society? How can you change the world? But I really like answering essay questions. " That skill served Littlejohn well.

Curiously, on a Friday night when the Phillies saluted Jackie Robinson's enduring legacy, their Citizens Bank Park crowd was considerably larger than the one that had witnessed history exactly 64 years earlier. On April 15, 1947, in front of 26,623 fans at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, Robinson ended baseball's long-standing racial segregation when he started at first base for the Dodgers. In ceremonies before the opener of the Marlins-Phillies weekend series, two former Philadelphia Negro Leaguers and several World War II Tuskegee Airmen were honored.

Today is Jackie Robinson Day Players, managers and coaches will all wear No. 42 jerseys to honor Robinson on the anniversary of his first major-league game, on April 15, 1947. Authenticated, commemorative items at each major-league game will be auctioned off, and proceeds will be donated to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which grants minority youths four-year scholarships for higher education. Greg Maddux, thinking man's pitcher Among the telling details in an ESPN the Magazine story by Tim Keown, this comes from former Greg Maddux teammate Brad Penny, who remembers talking to Maddux and coming to the conclusion: This guy knows my stuff better than I do. So Penny asked Maddux to call a game for him in 2006.

Outfielder Reggie Sanders and righthander Albie Lopez took one day to enjoy the Arizona Diamondbacks' World Series championship before joining 20 other major leaguers who filed for free agency yesterday. In the first two days of the free-agency filing period, 126 of 161 potential eligible players entered their names. Players can begin filing the day following the World Series, the opening of the 15-day period. Many filed early this year, possibly reflecting a rush by players to become free agents before baseball's collective bargaining agreement expires today.

Amid talk at the ritzy Plaza Hotel of gold coins and multimillion-dollar endowments, baseball yesterday officially began a yearlong commemoration of a moment 50 years ago when a black man in a flannel uniform ran onto a ball field in Brooklyn. Acting commissioner Bud Selig announced yesterday that the 1997 season would be dedicated to the memory of Jackie Robinson. Robinson ended major-league baseball's long segregation when, on April 15, 1947, at Ebbets Field, he started at first base for the Dodgers in their opening-day game with the Boston Braves.

For many black Americans, Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, who 50 years ago broke the color barrier in modern professional baseball, is the first lady of the struggle for civil rights. Robinson was in Philadelphia on Thursday to participate in the dedication of a mural in North Philadelphia in honor of her late husband. Wherever she went in the city, she was accorded the kind of respect and adulation given Rosa Parks or Coretta Scott King. In the crowd of onlookers to see the mural, which is on the wall of a vacant lot on Broad Street near Somerset, less than six blocks from the site of Connie Mack Stadium, were everyday people and prominent citizens of the city.

Delivering the eulogy at Jackie Robinson's funeral on Oct. 27, 1972, Jesse Jackson reminded the gathering that "a life is marked by two dates with a dash in between. " "It is that dash," he contended, "between those two dates, where we live. " "For each one of us," he continued in a preacher's cadence, "it is a dash of possibility, to make things better or to make things worse. On that dash, Jackie Robinson snapped the barbed wire of prejudice. In that dash, he carried with him the gift of new hopes and expectations.

In this year, when major-league baseball is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the summer that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, his life story is being retold again and again in video clips at ballpark ceremonies and banquets across the country. It is a story that should be retold - and not just for the benefit of those of us who were witness to that historic summer of 1947. That was the summer Robinson took the field as a Brooklyn Dodger, becoming the first African American to play in the Major League.

DEIDRE LITTLEJOHN, a Temple sophomore, mentors elementary-school kids in North Philly. Teaches them history. Says, "If you don't know where you've been, you can't know where you're going. " Adam Franklin, a Penn senior, is a Big Brother to a boy at Shaw Middle School. Teague O'Connor, a math major at Saint Joseph's, is active with HAWKS (Helping And Watching Kids Succeed). What do they have in common? You mean besides knowing that Jackie Robinson stole home 19 times; that Robinson was born in Cairo, Ga.; that he played all four sports at UCLA; and that he was subjected to a court-martial when he wouldn't move to the back of a half-empty bus while in the U.S. Army?

Curiously, on a Friday night when the Phillies saluted Jackie Robinson's enduring legacy, their Citizens Bank Park crowd was considerably larger than the one that had witnessed history exactly 64 years earlier. On April 15, 1947, in front of 26,623 fans at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, Robinson ended baseball's long-standing racial segregation when he started at first base for the Dodgers. In ceremonies before the opener of the Marlins-Phillies weekend series, two former Philadelphia Negro Leaguers and several World War II Tuskegee Airmen were honored.

Today is Jackie Robinson Day Players, managers and coaches will all wear No. 42 jerseys to honor Robinson on the anniversary of his first major-league game, on April 15, 1947. Authenticated, commemorative items at each major-league game will be auctioned off, and proceeds will be donated to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which grants minority youths four-year scholarships for higher education. Greg Maddux, thinking man's pitcher Among the telling details in an ESPN the Magazine story by Tim Keown, this comes from former Greg Maddux teammate Brad Penny, who remembers talking to Maddux and coming to the conclusion: This guy knows my stuff better than I do. So Penny asked Maddux to call a game for him in 2006.

DEIDRE LITTLEJOHN, a Temple sophomore, mentors elementary-school kids in North Philly. Teaches them history. Says, "If you don't know where you've been, you can't know where you're going. " Adam Franklin, a Penn senior, is a Big Brother to a boy at Shaw Middle School. Teague O'Connor, a math major at Saint Joseph's, is active with HAWKS (Helping And Watching Kids Succeed). What do they have in common? You mean besides knowing that Jackie Robinson stole home 19 times; that Robinson was born in Cairo, Ga.; that he played all four sports at UCLA; and that he was subjected to a court-martial when he wouldn't move to the back of a half-empty bus while in the U.S. Army?

As one of six kids growing up in West Oak Lane, Deirdre Littlejohn knew that if she wanted to go to college, she'd have to find a way to pay for it herself. While searching online at Central High School, she found the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "There were all these questions on the application," the 19-year-old recalled. "What do you feel about your role in society? How can you change the world? But I really like answering essay questions. " That skill served Littlejohn well.

As one of six kids growing up in West Oak Lane, Deirdre Littlejohn knew that if she wanted to go to college, she'd have to find a way to pay for it herself. While searching online at Central High School, she found the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "There were all these questions on the application," the 19-year-old recalled. "What do you feel about your role in society? How can you change the world? But I really like answering essay questions. " That skill served Littlejohn well.

Outfielder Reggie Sanders and righthander Albie Lopez took one day to enjoy the Arizona Diamondbacks' World Series championship before joining 20 other major leaguers who filed for free agency yesterday. In the first two days of the free-agency filing period, 126 of 161 potential eligible players entered their names. Players can begin filing the day following the World Series, the opening of the 15-day period. Many filed early this year, possibly reflecting a rush by players to become free agents before baseball's collective bargaining agreement expires today.

For many black Americans, Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, who 50 years ago broke the color barrier in modern professional baseball, is the first lady of the struggle for civil rights. Robinson was in Philadelphia on Thursday to participate in the dedication of a mural in North Philadelphia in honor of her late husband. Wherever she went in the city, she was accorded the kind of respect and adulation given Rosa Parks or Coretta Scott King. In the crowd of onlookers to see the mural, which is on the wall of a vacant lot on Broad Street near Somerset, less than six blocks from the site of Connie Mack Stadium, were everyday people and prominent citizens of the city.

In this year, when major-league baseball is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the summer that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, his life story is being retold again and again in video clips at ballpark ceremonies and banquets across the country. It is a story that should be retold - and not just for the benefit of those of us who were witness to that historic summer of 1947. That was the summer Robinson took the field as a Brooklyn Dodger, becoming the first African American to play in the Major League.

Delivering the eulogy at Jackie Robinson's funeral on Oct. 27, 1972, Jesse Jackson reminded the gathering that "a life is marked by two dates with a dash in between. " "It is that dash," he contended, "between those two dates, where we live. " "For each one of us," he continued in a preacher's cadence, "it is a dash of possibility, to make things better or to make things worse. On that dash, Jackie Robinson snapped the barbed wire of prejudice. In that dash, he carried with him the gift of new hopes and expectations.

Amid talk at the ritzy Plaza Hotel of gold coins and multimillion-dollar endowments, baseball yesterday officially began a yearlong commemoration of a moment 50 years ago when a black man in a flannel uniform ran onto a ball field in Brooklyn. Acting commissioner Bud Selig announced yesterday that the 1997 season would be dedicated to the memory of Jackie Robinson. Robinson ended major-league baseball's long segregation when, on April 15, 1947, at Ebbets Field, he started at first base for the Dodgers in their opening-day game with the Boston Braves.