Jackie Robinson Got This Guy's Job

As Jackie Robinson made history, Texan became a footnote | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "In venues great and small Sunday, Major League Baseball will celebrate a seminal event in the history of the sport and a significant milestone in 20th-century America — the day 60 years ago that Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern-day big league baseball.

Jackie Robinson Day's central event will take place in Los Angeles, where Robinson's widow will be on hand to see each member of the Dodgers wear Robinson's No. 42 as they take the field against the San Diego Padres.

Houston will host a smaller event — a youth baseball clinic at Memorial Park's Andy Anderson Field, sponsored by Major League Baseball's alumni association.

One of the senior members among the former players on hand will be Ed Stevens, 82, who keeps a copy of the box score from Robinson's first game on the office wall of his southwest Houston home, alongside a picture of himself with Robinson and some of their Brooklyn Dodgers teammates that year.

Stevens spent 29 years as a scout, so he enjoys working with young talent. He has another reason, though, to remember the events of April 15, 1947.

It was the day Jackie Robinson took his job."