Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Provides Inspiration At Little League World Series


 
 

When the late-inning rally viewers knew the Jackie Robinson West players had in them fell just short on Sunday, August 24 in an 8-4 defeat to South Korea in the Little League World Series final. The JRW kids with all the heart couldn’t beat a team from Seoul. Chicago’s boys of summer lost a game but returned home winners in ways they should appreciate by the time they’re men reflecting on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. They supplied Chicago what the Cubs and Sox didn’t: late-summer baseball excitement in a city starving for some. They captivated an audience of millions beyond America’s third-largest city and captured the imagination of all generations.

The enduring memory of this team won’t be the final out when JRW shortstop Ed Howard grounded out to second base on a fielder’s choice. It will be the vim and vigor JRW players invested in every pitch for a payoff that had nothing to do with fame or money ESPN made off their popularity. They wanted to win for their coaches, teammates and families along for the ride of their lives, for themselves, and for a country that embraced their enthusiasm and a city that sorely needed their example.

Nobody’s saying JRW’s success in winning the U.S. championship will stop one African-American teenager on the South Side from going down the wrong path, but you can say this team just gave thousands of at-risk kids a reason to take the right one. Nobody’s saying 13 black youths can cure all the problems that plague urban culture in their Chicago neighborhoods, but we can say they make us feel better about there being a solution. Nobody’s saying you will remember every player’s name after Labor Day, but it’s a good guess people never will forget their smiling faces and hustling style and touching sportsmanship.

“They are the pride of Chicago,’’ said Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who high-fived Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn after JRW scored its first run.

“This team has electrified our city and rallied people from every neighborhood to support these great kids. …They are great ambassadors for the city — and for the world.’’

A sense of history hung in the air as Emanuel spoke, but the kind that had to do more with this team opening doors than the mayor closing their South Side schools — the kind that had to do with progress, not politics. A note sent to every JRW player and their terrific manager, Darold Butler, by Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s 92-year-old widow, summed it up best.

“To have an African American squad from Chicago, the first from the city to qualify for the series since 1983, succeed and inspire other young men and women is so meaningful,’’ Rachel Robinson wrote in a letter obtained by the Tribune. “Thank you for upholding my husband Jack’s, your namesake’s, legacy through your hard work, dedication and excellent teamwork.’’


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