Where was Jackie Robinson born? All about baseball icon as his stolen statue is found burned in Kansas park

The baseball community was left shocked when the bronze statue of Jackie Robinson was stolen last week from a park in Kansas. On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the statue was found dismantled and burnt in a trash can. Authorities are currently looking for the suspects behind this "disgraceful" act, as per ABC News.

Wichita Council member Brandon Johnson also shed light on the incident and stated that the discovery of the statue pieces was "heartbreaking." However, as per the publication, he said:

"But I do want everyone to know that we are undeterred and making sure that that statue gets rebuilt and put back there for our community, for League 42, for the young people."

The professional baseball player was born in Cairo, Georgia, to a family of sharecroppers, on January 31, 1919. He was the first African-American baseball player to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, as per the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

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Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947

Born in Georgia's Cairo, Jackie Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College and then enrolled in UCLA. He, however, left UCLA and a year later joined the US Army in 1942. He was honorably discharged and began playing shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1944.

In 1947, he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award after he played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers the same year. He played a major role in helping the Dodgers win against the New York Yankees to secure their first World Series Championship. In 1949, Johnson was voted the most valuable player in the National League.

Years later, in 1962, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, he faced racial discrimination during his career, and as per an article published by the Los Angeles Times in 2021, he said:

"Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me."

After he retired from sports, Johnson got involved in civil rights activism. He was then posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.

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The vandalized statue was first installed in 2021

According to League 42 founder and CEO Bob Lutz, the mold of the original Jackie Robinson statue, which was installed in 2021, is still intact, and the authorities plan on erecting a new one soon. Bob Lutz spoke about the vandalizing incident, as per The New York Times, and said:

"People want to see justice served. Nobody can understand why this would happen."

Lutz further added:

"We played seven years without a Jackie statue, but his spirit was always with us, and we may miss the physical presence of that statue, but we’ll be inspired to know that it will be replaced."

The Associated Press reported that League 42 paid about $50,000 for the bronze statue that was vandalized.