Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Legend Jackie Robinson To Get Ohio Statue For Legendary Moment

Los Angeles Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson will be honored for a classic moment in baseball history very soon. Moreover, if you don’t know about ‘The Handshake of the Century’; now is a good time to Google it and learn a little more. However, if you do, this will be pretty newsworthy to any Robinson or Dodgers fan.

Now a statue of Robinson will be revealed in April of 2021 in Youngstown, Ohio. Indeed, the statue will depict the iconic moment between Jack and former Triple-AAA Montreal Royals teammate George Shuba from 1946.



From the official press release:

YOUNGTOWN, Ohio — A larger-than-life statue commemorating the inspiring 1946 handshake of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American Major League Baseball player, and George “Shotgun” Shuba, his white teammate, will inspire better relations among people of different racial backgrounds, say leaders of a group planning to build the statue in Ohio.

The Economic Action Group, a downtown Youngstown development advocate, and the newly formed Robinson-Shuba Commemorative Statue Committee aim to raise $400,000 to complete the statue and dedicate it on April 18, 2021, the 75th anniversary of what some have called “the handshake of the century” following Robinson’s first home run in modern professional baseball.

“A handshake at home plate by players of different races is no big deal in America today, but in 1946 it was a historic moment,” said Herb Washington, a local businessman and one of the co-chairs of the committee. “We want to memorialize that moment in a way that inspires people to relate more respectfully to those of other races. We need more Americans to follow the examples of Jackie Robinson and George Shuba.”

Finally, the statue will stand nearly 7 feet tall and appear near the Youngstown Amphitheater. The sculptor, Marc Mellon, has produced works depicting the likes of President George H. W. Bush, President Barack Obama and athletes Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle, Arthur Ashe and Cal Ripken.

We will have more on this story when the Robinson statue is revealed. Of course, baseball will be ongoing then; so it should make for a happy time of year to unveil the monument.

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

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