42

42

Inside the hearts and historicity of baseball, the number 42 is imbued with a kind of sacredness. Worn by Jackie Robinson, the first African-American man to play in the Major Leagues, this was the number sewn across his chest as he rambled out to first base on April 15, 1947, officially breaking the color line as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Robinson's number is on display at every baseball stadium across MLB, retired from use in perpetuity. And while he is among the most-lauded heroes of our national pastime, he is also a local boy. Raised in Pasadena, a statue of he and his brother Mack, an athlete in his own right, stand just across from City Hall.

The eyes of Mack are focused on Pasadena's central governmental office. Besides a trip to the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Mack spent his entire life in the "City of Roses." But Jackie's eyes gaze directly east, toward New York City, the site of his greatest professional and personal triumph. 

"To do what he did has got to be the most tremendous thing I've ever seen in sports." - Pee Wee Reese, HOF Dodger shortstop and teammate of Jackie Robinson