Some of the movie’s most riveting moments brought a hush throughout the crowd Friday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
The famous office conversation that Branch Rickey, then president and co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, had in 1946 with 27-year-old infielder Jackie Robinson.
“I know you can hit behind the runner. Can you control your temper? A black in white baseball? Can you imagine the reaction, the vitriol?” said Harrison Ford, the actor portraying Rickey, after the moment Robinson was offered a professional contract to join the Dodgers organization and play for their Montreal farm team.
“I want a player who has the guts not to fight back. People are not going to like this,” was Rickey’s portrayal in the movie.
It went on from there. Robinson telling Rickey, “You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back, I’ll give you the guts.”
The rise of Robinson into becoming the first African-American player to join a Major League Baseball team, thus breaking the sport’s color barrier, was a transformational moment in American history.
Robinson wore No. 42 into immortality. A year after being signed for $600 contract and $3,500 signing bonus, Robinson made his MLB debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer arranged to have the movie, “42,” shown Friday night, coinciding with the Juneteenth celebration. After the movie, a fireworks display ensued.
All of the proceeds received Friday night went to the Southern Youth Sports Association to help that organization.
“Tonight is the celebration of legally the end of slavery, although we have a long way to go,” said Studer, addressing the crowd prior to the movie.
Andreana and Dewayne Thompson were sitting in right field, among the closest to the video screen as the movie was shown. They wore commemorative Juneteenth T-shirts and were among the last to leave the stadium.
They had seen the movie before. But wanted to do so again. Part of the movie included a short clip episode about Pensacola, where Robinson had landed at the Pensacola airport for a connecting flight to Daytona Beach to join the minor league team in spring training.
Robinson and his wife were purposely bumped off the flight that night, causing them to scramble for a place to sleep, then catch a bus to Daytona Beach.
Robinson later wrote in his own book, which was chronicled by Pensacola author Scott Brown, on how well he was treated by a Pensacola family who allowed the couple to stay the night.
“I think (movie) brings home what (Robinson) meant,” Dewayne said.
“Well, basically, we all just need to come together,” said Andreana, speaking of the times. “I don’t think there is really a whole lot of divide, except for certain people who have not been taught.
“It just a different way of learning.”
The couple planned to commemorate Juneteenth having dinner at home.
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Instead, after learning of the Blue Wahoos event on Facebook, realizing it would be safe for physical distancing, they chose to be at the ballpark.
“I said let’s go to the stadium and enjoy the movie and see fireworks,” Andreana said.
“It’s great just to come out here, sit on the grass, relax and be together.”
Lumon May, Escambia County Commissioner and a close friend of Quint Studer since they first met in 1996, has watched the Robinson biographical movie three times.
He addressed the crowd, reminding of Robinson’s impact in American history.
“Baseball is the American sport. It is the universal language that has brought all of us together,” May said. “Black, white, red, yellow. Jackie Robinson did that. He has brought us together through baseball.
“This park, where we have done the Soul Bowl (youth football games)… it has been about not only diversity but inclusion of all citizens. As you watch this movie, let your mind reflect back on things that have been part of Pensacola, history, Florida history, American history.”
The Blue Wahoos held a second movie night Saturday, as part of the Father’s Day weekend of events at the bayfront stadium. The movie Field of Dreams was shown, followed by another fireworks show.
Sunday, a Father’s Day brunch will happen at the stadium.
“Without baseball, we’ve still tried to turn our stadium into a wonderful family place to have fun, to enjoy… from movie nights to Airbnb… to disc golf and so forth,” Studer said, addressing the crowd before the movie was shown.
“When the park was built, it was all about creating a neighborhood,” he said. “A stadium, a place where people could mingle, a place where people could get together and that’s what it has been for us.”
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and current senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Studer55. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com
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