Detroit – Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball on April 15, 1947. Seventy-four years later, the Tigers players, coaches and staff members wore black t-shirts under their game jerseys in Oakland with the words Breaking Barriers emblazoned on the chest.
And every player or coach who stepped on a field across the Major Leagues Thursday wore No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.
It happens every year. Yet somehow, in light of the events of the last year or more, in light of continued social injustice against people of color, the day somehow seemed more poignant this year.