Reese-Robinson to be Featured in Keyspan Park Statue

[Guest Edgy DC]

Story.

[metirish]

It's amazing to read about the abuse Robinson got not just from fans but form players around the league, interesting article and cool story about Reese and what he did that day, fitting that a statue should go up in Brooklyn.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Being that we have no photos of the specific subject, the moment is not exactly being depicted as the most intimate of gestures.



If Reese was a baserunner and Robinson a shortstop, they could've picked Pee-Wee off with the daylight play.

[Willets Point]

Sad to say, but that statue looks hokey.

[Theoldmole]

It's OK if it looks hokey. It's history, not art. A great moment in baseball history and American history, and I'm glad it's being commemorated.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

There's no reason it can't be art as well.

I'm disappointed in the statue. The figures look too stiff. "Pee Wee, go touch Jackie's left shoulder blade. Okay, both of you, look this way!"

They should be closer together. We should see Pee Wee's hand coming up over Jackie's left shoulder. Pee Wee should be looking up into the stands. Jackie should be turning his head towards Pee Wee.

At least, that's how I would have done it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sort of what I was getting at.

They look like two child siblings forced to do a loving pose for the camera.

[Valadius]

That's a pretty bland statue. It doesn't capture the moment at all.

[Willets Point]

="TheOldMole"]It's OK if it looks hokey. It's history, not art. A great moment in baseball history and American history, and I'm glad it's being commemorated.

I see your point, but I appreciate the times when history is commemorated with art.

Case in point: The Boston Irish Famine Memorial. Definitely an historical event worth remembering, but the art is so bad and mawkish it's grotesquely comical.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

]...the art is so bad and mawkish it's grotesquely comical.

Especially with a 7-Eleven in the background.

[MFS62]

Its not in the artwork, its in the message.
Reese, a southerner from Kentucky, was the first prominent member of the Dodgers to show his support for Jackie when Robinson joined the team.
That demonstration of brotherhood should never be forgotten. Quibble you may about how well the statue was done, but it reminds us of that moment. And when you get right down to it, that's a good thing.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The statue is a great idea.

But it's a terrible execution. It's not "quibbling" to expect something better.

[MFS62]

It is my understanding that in the clubhouse, after hearing all the vile insults directed at Robinson from his new teammates, all Reese did was walk over to Robinson and put a quietly hand on his shoulder.
It was a simple gesture.
He didn't hug him.
In my mind the statue captures the essence of that moment.

But I guess that's art - everyone has their own opinion of whether they like it or not.

EDIT: I agree with Mole.
Later

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Willets - where is that statue located?

[Guest Edgy DC]

As the article says, the statue references an on-field gesture.

[Willets Point]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Willets - where is that statue located?

Corner of Washington & School Sts near the Old South Meeting House.

[MFS62]

City?

Later

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Boston.

Thanks WP.

[Frayed Knot]

I think everyone's point is that, because there's no photo or specific image
that an artist would be more or less obligated to copy (Iwo Jima), why put
them in such hokey looking poses?
It's not like we know what their REAL stance was and now it's being
altered - a la making the NYC firemen of differing ethnicities, or the
cigarette-less FDR - for some political correctnes issue.

No one seems to be arguing against the idea here, just the (potential) execution.

[Guest cooby]

That's just a little clay model, though. They still have time to tinker with it, and if it's eight feet tall, it'll be more impressive

[Guest cooby]

Also, I had no idea a potato famine could be so rough on a girl's clothes!

[soupcan]

Anybody remember the episode of 'Welcome back Kotter' when Barbarino did a report on the Irish Potato Phantom?

[Guest Scrapple8]

I wonder where the robinson / reese statue will be. Maybe at the circular grassy knoll feet from the home plate entrance at keyspan?

It is amazing how robinson's career was widely reported and covered, yet we still cannot find actual newspaper article evidence of the reese giving the buddy gesture to robinson, or the black cat incident in syracuse. Baseball historians in syracuse believe that a fan may have tossed the cat on the field in montreal when they played syracuse, because it didn't happen in the salt city and the syracuse players interviewed said it did not come from them.

(source: ashes of lou gehrig)

[MFS62]

I have a copy of the 1946 Sporting News Baseball Guide. It has a picture of Jackie Robinson putting on his first professional (Montreal) uniform. But the accompanying article doesn't mention what he went through that year.

Welcome back, Scrapple8.

Later

[Theoldmole]

62 is right about the nature of the gesture, which the statue gets about right.

Yeah, I wish it were a better statue. But I'm still glad it's gonna be there. That's the main thing.

[Zvon]

="Edgy DC"]Being that we have no photos of the specific subject, the moment is not exactly being depicted as the most intimate of gestures.

agreed Edgy