The severed cleats left behind when thieves robbed a Jackie Robinson statue in Kansas will be donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
The 275-pound sculpture was photographed last month from McAdams Park in Wichita, where hundreds of children are playing baseball in League 42, a league dedicated to pioneering players.
Police believe the poachers were hoping to sell the precious sculpture for scrap metal.
“We thought it was absolutely the right thing to do,” says Bob Lutz, who founded and runs League 42. he told ESPN.
“It looks like the cleats will be delivered by April 11th, definitely before Jackie Robinson Day.” [April 15]”
Lutz said a ceremony will be held once the cleats arrive at the museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
They were shot multiple times shortly after being erected outside Robinson’s birthplace near Cairo, Ga., in 2001, and a series of other Robinson-related items on display, including a damaged plaque honoring the civil rights icon. It is planned to join the legacy of.
“It’s sad that we’re building this little shrine of Jackie Robinson stuff that’s been defaced and damaged,” said Bob Kendrick, director of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. .
“But it gave us an opportunity to talk about the kind of person he was, the character and value of what he represented, even in the face of adversity. And that message will never go out of style.” It is not.”
Robinson was the first player to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Wichita erected a sculpture honoring its heroes in 2021, spending more than $100,000 to install it.
Firefighters discovered the charred remains of the statue five days after the theft while responding to a dumpster fire at another park about 11 miles away.
Earlier this month, police arrested 45-year-old Ricky Angel Alderete, promising more arrests in the future. Three men were caught on surveillance camera toppling the statue, which authorities condemned as a “horrific” and “abhorrent” crime.
Investigators believe the crime was not hate-related and that the perpetrators were hoping to make money from the metal.
After the theft, donations poured in, totaling about $300,000, including a $100,000 donation from Major League Baseball.
The community plans to use the funds to build a new Robinson statue.
Robinson earned his ticket to the Hall of Fame in 1962, becoming the first black player to enter Cooperstown. The lightning-fast infielder, who boasts a career MLB batting average of .313, began his career with the Kansas City Monarchs as a member of the Negro Leagues before signing with Brooklyn.
with post wire
