Jackie Robinson inspired many things including this classic baseball song
We did a YouTube Gold about Jackie Robinson stealing home in the 1955 World Series the other day and the playful way his widow, Rachel, and Yogi Berra, would greet each other afterwards (Mrs. Robinson: “safe!” Mr. Berra: “out!”)
As he broke the color line in baseball, Robinson was instantly an American legend. He has been honored in many ways since 1947 but in 2024, it’s hard to appreciate just how dramatic an impact he had. Today we have social media for better or worse. We have memes (can a meme major be far behind?) and powerful cameras in our pockets. We have instant communications anywhere we are on the planet. You could be deep in the Amazon and see something that happens athletically in a flash.
In 1947 obviously they had none of that. The papers came to your house, via trucks and bikes, in the morning and evening. Baseball cards were more or less the memes. TV was barely getting started, mostly in and around New York.
But what they did have was radio, and songs were sort of like memes.
Take the baseball classic “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? “
There were multiple versions of the hit but this one is by Count Basie. The pride in Robinson shines through, as does the very different place in the national psyche baseball held then and Basie, as always, swings.
