Jackie Robinson Day: A’s Kemp honors past, looks to help create brighter future
"There is no way to not get emotional or get some chills (wearing No. 42). Driving to the field today you kind of step back and you realize that a person like me wouldn't be able to come to a big league ballpark if it wasn't for Jackie Robinson doing what he did."
Tony Kemp would not have been in left field for the A’s on Thursday — or any other night — if not for Jackie Robinson. He’s hoping he can make a difference for another aspiring major leaguer.
Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day by having all uniformed personnel wear No. 42, the number worn by the pioneering former Dodger who broke the color barrier in 1947. It’s been a tradition in the league since 2009. This year, more than 100 players, including Kemp and A’s teammate Chad Pinder, are donating part or all of their salary for the day to support The Players Alliance, a group that is helping donate equipment and help make baseball more accessible to kids who otherwise might get shut out as well as bringing awareness to issues of equality in MLB and the community.
“To break more barriers is big,” Kemp said during an interview session before Thursday’s game. “Letting Black players that are younger know that they can do it too, just like any of us, it’s a big deal.”
The group’s website says its mission is to, “To create an inclusive culture within baseball and the community, where differences are leveraged to elevate racial equality and provide greater opportunities for the Black community, both in our game and the places we live in, play in and care about most.”
Kemp is an active member with The Players Alliance, which was formed last summer. This winter current and former players planned to visit 33 cities across the country to provide COVID-19 supplies and baseball gear to various communities. The Pull Up tour was cut short because of COVID travel restrictions and only got as far west as Las Vegas. All eight California stops — including Oakland, San Francisco and Vallejo — had to be canceled. But it was a start.
“The best we can do right now is just to insert ourselves in those inner cities and just be a light,” Kemp said. “It’s going to take some time, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Kemp added, “You never know. Once someone gets to the big leagues … they are going to say maybe ‘my first bat or my first glove was at the Pull Up tour and that’s how I kind of got the ball rolling.'”
Kemp, 29, points to Robinson as the person who got his own ball rolling. Kemp told reporters last year, when Jackie Robinson Day was celebrated on Aug. 28 because of the pandemic, that as a 12-year-old he wrote a report on Robinson and as a kid wrote “Robinson” in duct tape on the back of his jersey.
“There is no way to not get emotional or get some chills,” Kemp said of wearing Robinson’s No. 42 in a game. “Driving to the field today you kind of step back and you realize that a person like me wouldn’t be able to come to a big league ballpark if it wasn’t for Jackie Robinson doing what he did. Jackie is a guy that will always be looked up to.”
