Joe Carter at The Brick Sunday
The Oklahoma RedHawks are proud to celebrate the event at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark by welcoming Oklahoma City baseball legend Joe Carter and several of Robinson's teammates to sign autographs and pay tribute to the man brought into the major leagues by Branch Rickey, grandfather of current Pacific Coast League President Branch Rickey III.
Gametime is 2:05 p.m.
Former Robinson teammates who will be attending Sunday's game include Cal McLish, a member of Robinson's first Dodger team in 1947; Bobby Morgan, Brooklyn Dodgers 1950 and 1952-53; Jim Gentile, Brooklyn Dodgers 1956-58; and Tom Sturdivant, who pitched against Robinson in the 1955 and 1956 World Series as a New York Yankee.
Don Demeter, who played for the Dodgers shortly after Robinson retired, is also slated to attend.
Also appearing:
The first African American baseball players at Oklahoma State University:
Fred Moulder, 1965 (signed with LA Dodgers in 1966)
Don Kuykendall, OSU, 1965
Players to appear from local African American leagues include:
Ted Hamlin, Guthrie Black Spiders, 1948-52
Bobby Nicholson, Guthrie Black Spiders, 1948-54; Burton All Stars, 1944-51; House of David, Minneapolis, MN 1950
"Cookie" Chambers, Guthrie Black Spiders, 1948-52
Ched Hern, OKC Green Pasture Giants, 1950
The gentleman will be on the concourse signing autographs during the first innings of the game. Richard Hendricks with the Oklahoma Sports Museum will provide a display of Jackie Robinson memorabilia, including Robinson jerseys.
Here are bios of Robinson and Carter:
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was born January 31, 1919 and became the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era in 1947. The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Robinson in 1962 and he was a member of six World Series teams. Jackie earned six consecutive All-Star Game nominations and won several awards during his career. In 1947, Robinson won The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award and the first MLB Rookie of the Year Award. Two years later, Jackie was awarded his first National League MVP Award. In addition to his accomplishments on the field, Jackie Robinson was also a forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a key figure in the establishment and growth of the Freedom Bank, an African-American owned and controlled entity, in the 1960s. Robinson died in 1972.
Born in Oklahoma City March 7, 1960, Joe Carter owns one of the greatest moments in World Series history: a walk-off, series-ending home run in Game 6 of the 1993 Fall Classic off Philadelphia's Mitch Williams in Toronto, giving the championship to the Toronto Blue Jays. Drafted in the first round, second overall, by Cleveland in 1981, Carter first gained prominence as a Chicago Cub after a multi-player 1984 trade. A graduate of Oklahoma City's Millwood High School, Carter saw action in all or part of 16 major league seasons with Cleveland, the Cubs, San Diego, Toronto, Baltimore and San Francisco. He retired after the 1998 season with 396 career home runs and 2,184 hits. A member of Toronto's back-to-back World Series winners in 1992-93, Carter was a five-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Silver Slugger.