It might be the greatest line in the history of sports movies.
There’s no evidence that Dodgers legend Pee Wee Reese said these exact words to Jackie Robinson, but in the movie 42, he shares these words to the actor playing Robinson, the late Chadwick Boseman.
“Maybe tomorrow we’ll all wear 42. That way they won’t tell us apart.”
April 15 every year is that tomorrow that Reese referenced in that line. It’s Jackie Robinson Day.
It’s the 78th anniversary in 2025 of the date that Robinson first stepped onto a Major League Baseball diamond for a regular season game, breaking the league’s color barrier.
Robinson’s No. 42 is retired leaguewide, and each year on this date, the entire league dons that number on their backs.
It’s one of the coolest scenes in sports. No last name, no individuality, just the memory of Robinson.
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On Tuesday, ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian called April 15, 1947 the single most important date in baseball history.
“What Jackie Robinson did changed the game, and it helped change the country,” Kurkjian said.
Kurkjian relayed a story told by MLB Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.
“He said, ‘What Jackie taught us was the only way to beat the hatred that we heard and felt at that time was to go out there on the field and beat them on the field. That’s what Jackie taught us,'” Kurkjian recalled.
Kurkjian went on to say that Hank Aaron once told him if not for Jackie, he would’ve never thought about playing in Major League Baseball.
Robinson is also one of the best players in baseball history.
In 1949, he batted .342 with 66 extra-base hits and 37 steals, the only season of that kind in MLB history.
He famously stole home in the World Series.
And he changed the game, and the world, forever.
We’ll leave you with this Jackie quote:
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
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