Jackie Robinson documentary by Ken Burns

Begins tomorrow on PBS. He did a fine job with Baseball in general; can't wait to see this. Yes I saw 42 I loved it too. This however is a Burns documentary and it sounds amazing.

Heard him on Ed Randle's show yesterday.  Looking forward to it.

He and I went to Hampshire College together. He had that bad haircut even then. (Ken Burns, not Jackie Robinson.)

That's his real hair?  I thought it was a wig.  A bad wig.

Outstanding.

I thought it was kind of amazing that Jackie's brother (Mac?) was part of the Jesse Owen's Olympics, coming in 2nd to Jesse in one of the races ... 

I can't get over how wonderful his wife looks - she's 93 years old!

mooewe said:

I can't get over how wonderful his wife looks - she's 93 years old!

That struck me as well. She seemed very together and a warm and wonderful personality.

The story was told a little differently in the Burns film, but I think Buzzie Bavasi himself said that when Branch Rickey sent him to Montreal to see how Jackie was doing, Rickey told him that he'd be sitting near the players' wives. Rickey knew how much pressure Rachel would face as well and asked Bavasi to "scout" her a bit to see how she might handle herself when Jackie got promoted.

Bavasi reported back to Rickey, "Sir, if Jackie Robinson is good enough for Rachel Robinson, then he's certainly good enough for the Brooklyn Dodgers."

Ken Burns visited the Mets broadcast booth during a recent game to talk about Jackie.  He said the Pee Wee Reese story was not true (Pee Wee standing on the field with Jackie in a show of support).

mlj said:

Ken Burns visited the Mets broadcast booth during a recent game to talk about Jackie.  He said the Pee Wee Reese story was not true (Pee Wee standing on the field with Jackie in a show of support).

They talked about this last night ... Rachel Robinson did not want the statue depicting this "myth" built.

Just to add to what Rachel Robinson said was there is a photo of the two of them holding hands...and she thought that would be more appropriate. I assume, judging from the photo, that that would be more equal and less patronizing. 

I am glad to be filled in on this story. I did not realize how against the grain it was for Jackie to hold in his anger and need for retaliation. 

One thing that was evident, they were both blessed with good looks and intelligence.