Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball
Chapter One
Hero
* * *
As I began this book, many Americans were
beginning to be cautious about whom they
called a hero. Athletes, actors, entrepreneurs,
and celebrities had casually and carelessly been described
as such. To do so after September 11, 2001, seemed preposterous.
In the weeks following the attacks on New
York and Washington, D.C., and the foiled attack that
sent a plane crashing into western Pennsylvania, Americans
saw the grim and affecting faces of genuine heroes-and
they were caked in ash, blood, tears, toil, and sweat.
A man or woman might sink a basketball, strike a baseball,
or scintillate before a camera lens. Those talents can
be worthy. But real heroes risk their lives for others.
My wife and I were crossing midtown Manhattan
about three weeks after the attacks and saw an assemblage
of broad shoulders in blue uniforms with red patches
standing outside the entrance to a church. The men and
women talked softly; anonymous black cars thrummed
their motors softly; pink and white flowers were piled
softly into the crooks of the concrete stairs. It was the
funeral for a New York firefighter. We went ins ... read full excerpt from: Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball ebook
