By Mike Clark
A Jackie Robinson South matchup against Washington on April 14 wasn’t just another game for Jones senior Ellis Alexander.
It was part of the second annual Jackie Robinson Day commemoration organized by the Public League and the Chicago Baseball and Education Association.
“It (carries) big significance, especially coming from a big baseball family,” Alexander said after the Eagles’ 7-2 win at UIC’s Granderson Stadium. “My grandfather (Keith Alexander) played for the Negro Leagues. So it’s just a big inspiration for my dad and I — my whole family — just to represent many Black baseball players out there who don’t have the same opportunity as me, coming to Jones College Prep and being part of the Cubs RBI program.”
Renzo Sansonetti hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer for Jones (7-6, 1-3 Jackie Robinson South) and Christophe deWijkerslooth was 3-for-4 with a triple, one run and two RBIs. Alexander went 1-for-3 with a run and a stolen base.
The day also resonated with Jones coach Dave Rosene, whose postgame talk with his players was focused on Robinson.
“He was a role model and a man that stood up for what was right,” Rosene said. “Got persecuted, harassed, threatened. He stood up for what was right and his fellow African-Americans.”
Robinson became the first Black player in MLB’s modern era when he broke in with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The number of Black players in the majors gradually rose over the following decades and by the 1970s and 1980s, the percentage rose to between 16-19%, according to various sources.
But just 6.2% of players on MLB Opening Day rosters this year were Black.
How to boost those numbers? Alexander and Rosene hope to see the game grow at the grass-roots level. The Jackie Robinson Day game can help build awareness for baseball in the city, as can the youth programs sponsored by Chicago’s MLB teams: Cubs RBI and White Sox ACE.
“Working with the Cubs Charities program has helped me outreach to the community,” said Alexander, who is committed to Division III Macalester (Minn.). “Just going to (Greater Chicago) Food Depository (events), workouts, clinics and stuff like that with a lot of African-American kids … everyone should be introduced to the great game of baseball. Because it’s taught me a lot that I can use on and off the field.”
“In inner cities or urban areas, we need more of this,” Rosene said. “To just understand what (Robinson’s) significance is in history and why they’re allowed to play (in MLB) where they weren’t allowed to play previous to 1947.”
Photos by Ashley Harris/OSA
