Jackie Robinson Day At Clay High School 2021 Baseball and Softball

The South Bend Community School Corporation and Clay High School would like to celebrate the accomplishments and incredible achievements of Jackie Robinson. The Clay High Baseball and Softball team will designate two home games as Jackie Robinson tribute games.

Baseball April 19th vs Elkhart at 5:30

Softball April 21st vs New Prairie at 5:30

Jack Robinson, born on January 31, 1919, was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

During his 10-year career, Robinson won Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949—the first black player so honored. He also won a World Championship with the Dodgers in 1955. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number 42 across all major league teams; he was the first professional athlete in any sport to earn this honor. MLB also adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", for the first time on April 15, 2004, on which every player on every team wears No. 42.

Robinson's character and his talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation that had then marked many other aspects of American life. He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly the civil rights movement. Robinson also was the first black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first black vice president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem. After his death in 1972, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his achievements on and off the field.

* All varsity players and coaches will wear number 42 in recognition of the traditional MLB celebration.

* Proceeds above $4.00 per attendee will be dedicated to SB Schools Kindergarten to 4th grade sports program.

* There will also be a player of the game for each team, Visitor and Home, awarded by the opposing coach. We would like to recognize a player who embodies the spirit of leadership and/or social justice.