Jackie Robinson memories

Tonight Ira is watching the Yankees-Angels game; every player is wearing #42 to honor this day as the first day that Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers 62 years ago. A clip was shown of the great #42 stealing home plate w. Whitey Ford pitching.

Sixty two years ago, I was a student at Erasmus Hall HS in Brooklyn. It had a huge enrollment and a huge campus; even with 2 graduations each year, my class had about 800 students. Sometime before or after noon, I had a class that met in one of the rooms, I think above the entrance "arch", that faced Flatbush Avenue. The avenue was a busy place, lined w. shops and eateries, lots of pedestrian and car traffic. At one end of Flatbush Avnue was Ebbets Field.

I remember a student sitting near the window shouting, "There's Jackie Robinson." Sure enough, there was his famous pink Cadillac, parking across the street, in front of the toniest lunch room in the area...a place where the ladies arrived via limos and fancy cars, wearing veiled little hats and white gloves. He stepped out and several on the sidewalk applauded as he walked in. He must have met someone there fairly regularly as I remember seeing him, during that semester, arrive there often, and each time we students were just as thrilled. How marvelous that his memory and achievements are being celebrated at ball parks today.