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After Jackie Robinson's statue is stolen and destroyed, the community gathers around a baseball league

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It was around noon last Thursday when Bob Lutz left work and headed home before his daily radio show started. From the office of League 42, the nonprofit baseball league he founded in 2013, he looked across 17th Street in Wichita, Kansas. On a rainy, cloudy day, he stared at the statue of Jackie Robinson that the league erected in 2021. statue was a symbol of hope and resilience. Lutz, however, could not see the bronze image of the man who broke baseball's color barrier.

For a moment, Lutz wondered if there was fog in it. He blinked. Looked again. Doubting himself, he called an assistant out of the building to join him. The woman looked and couldn't see the image either.

Soon they were across the street, where the strange hallucination of a missing statue became reality. Jackie Robinson was gone, cut just above his shoe tops.

“The emotions,” Lutz said, “were overwhelming.”

The story that followed became a national headline. Surveillance footage captured individuals entering the Jackie Robinson Pavilion around midnight Thursday, during which the $75,000 statue was removed and placed in a truck. Wichita police held a press conference calling for its return.

“I am frustrated by the actions of those individuals who had the audacity to remove the Jackie Robinson statue from a park where children and families in our community come together to learn and share the history of Jackie Robinson, an American icon. to play Jackie Robinson's game. baseball,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said during a news conference Friday. “This should upset us all.”

Lutz's worst fears soon became reality. Tuesday morning, the Wichita Fire Department responded to reports of a trash can fire in Garvey Park. The fire was extinguished. Pieces of the Robinson statue were left in the ashes.

While it is unclear whether the theft and destruction was racially motivated, the act deeply struck the hearts of those invested in League 42 and the broader baseball community.

“I've been disappointed since the theft,” Lutz said. “It is incomprehensible that people do this. But when people do something so cowardly, it can't be a surprise if they have done something equally cowardly. I wasn't shocked. I'm just sad about the whole thing. It's unfortunate that people would desecrate our statue, especially a statue of Jackie Robinson.”

League 42 started in 2013 as Lutz's brainchild. He was a longtime journalist and radio host and a lifelong baseball enthusiast. He became discouraged when he read stories and saw statistics about the declining number of young Americans playing baseball. Rising costs and the spread of travel ball culture have made the game less accessible than ever.

“The idea was that it bothered me that young kids, especially young kids of color, were being excluded from playing baseball,” Lutz said. “I think every child should have that opportunity.”

With the help of local partners, Lutz worked to create an affordable league that charges $30 per family. League 42 provides uniforms and equipment. It limits enrollment to 600 children, a way of prioritizing quality over quantity.

The league got its namesake in its early days, when Lutz and others met on the subject. A few people threw out names. None of them stuck. Finally, someone in the group came up with the idea of ​​honoring Jackie Robinson. Almost immediately someone else replied: “Why not call it League 42?”

“It's like a bolt of lightning struck,” Lutz said. “It was the obvious name for us.”

As the league charted its path forward and enrollment grew, Lutz said she tried to emulate Robinson's legacy in several ways. The league offers educational programs and has taught the importance of Robinson's pioneering spirit in the face of racism, threats of violence and many of humanity's worst impulses.

In 2014 the competition started with 16 teams and 200 children. By 2020 it had grown to 44 teams. In 2015, League 42 secured a $1.5 million contribution from the city to improve its facilities and add a third playing field at McAdams Park.

Ultimately, the league sought to erect a statue of Robinson as a symbol of its values ​​and mission. League 42 consulted with name, image and likeness attorneys and received permission from the Robinson family and the Jackie Robinson Foundation. The Wichita community came together to raise money for the statue and commissioned local artist John Parsons. The Robinson statue was erected in 2021.


The unveiling of the statue in 2021. (Courtesy of League 42)

Less than three years later, when that image disappeared, the reaction was visceral.

“I feel like I have lost a close friend or family member and my anger is raging,” Lutz wrote on Facebook that day. “I honestly don't know what to do.”

However, Lutz was soon overwhelmed by an outpouring of support. People from Wichita and beyond reached out. Community members gathered at the Jackie Robinson Pavilion as a vigil of sorts. They placed roses and a red hat with the number 42 where the statue once stood. A heart-shaped note on the flowers read: We miss you. They discovered that the mold of the original statue is still viable, and a GoFundMe account has raised nearly $50,000 in two days for a new statue.

Lutz also received words of encouragement from Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, who had visited League 42 in 2022 and took a photo with the Robinson statue. “We have your back,” Kendrick told him.

“They do tremendously valuable work creating opportunities for children of all colors to play this game, which is something the museum has as part of its mission,” Kendrick said. “We are here to preserve a precious piece of baseball Americana and its past.” We also play an important role in helping our game grow.”

The loss of the statue, Kendrick said, may serve as an unfortunate reminder of the hatred that still persists in society.

“With progress,” Kendrick said, “comes the tendency to forget.”

In 2021, locals in Cairo, Georgia discovered that a historical monument commemorating Robinson's birthplace had been peppered with shotgun fire. Authorities noted increased damage around the words “Negro American” and “baseball's color barrier.” Major League Baseball responded with a $40,000 gift to the Georgia Historical Society, making possible a new marker and an endowment fund in Robinson's name.

As police in Wichita continue their search for the perpetrators of the theft, the community continues to rally behind the group. It has left Lutz emotionally overwhelmed in a different way.

Kendrick observes from a distance, noting the parallels between League 42 and the man it honors.

“You can steal the statue, but you can't steal the spirit of what Jackie represented,” Kendrick said. “I think what you see in the general public is a Jackie Robinson-esque determination to overcome good and overcome evil. And so every time you're willing to give up on humanity – and we know we can't give up on humanity – humanity steps up to the plate and reminds us of what we already know: there are more good people than bad people. . It has always been that way and it will always remain that way.”

Since the statue was stolen, Lutz has been providing constant updates on his Facebook page. In a post Tuesday, he detailed the unknowable motives behind those who stole and burned the statue. Why did they do it? Have they felt any remorse? Do they know Jackie Robinson and why he remains such a poignant symbol of hope?

“I hope to learn more about the perpetrators in the coming days,” Lutz wrote. “If they were brought to my office at the Leslie Rudd Learning Center, I wouldn't be upset. I would ask them the questions I have asked here. And I hope I would listen.”

(Top photo: courtesy of League 42)

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