”Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life After Baseball” with Michael G. Long

One of the most revered public figures of the 20th Century, Jackie Robinson is remembered for both his athletic prowess and his strong personal character.  The world knows him as the man who crossed baseball's color line, but there is much more to his legacy.  At the conclusion of his baseball career, Robinson continued in his pursuit of social progress.  Beyond Home Plate, an anthology of Jackie Robinson's columns in the New York Post and the New York Amsterdam News, offers fresh insight into the Hall of Famer's life and work following his historic years on the baseball diamond.

Robinson's syndicated newspaper columns afforded him the opportunity to provide rich social commentary, while simultaneously exploring his own life and experiences.  He was free to write about any subject of his choosing, and he took full advantage of this license, speaking his mind about everything from playing Santa to confronting racism, from loving his wife Rachel to despising Barry Goldwater, from complaining about Cassius Clay's verbosity to teaching Little Leaguers how to lose well.

Jackie wrote to prod and provoke, inflame and infuriate, and sway and persuade.  With their pointed opinions, these fascinating columns reveal that the mature Robinson was a truly American prophet, a civil rights leader in his own right, furious with racial injustice and committed to securing first-class citizenship for all. Jackie believed that his life after his baseball career was far more important than all of his baseball exploits.  Beyond Home Plate shows why he believed this so fervently.

Listen in to a fascinating Clubhouse discussion led by Michael G. Long...