Dear Jackie Robinson …

Jackie Robinson is a towering historical figure. Thanks to Major League Baseball’s ongoing efforts, every young fan today knows he was the first man to break the sport’s Black barrier.

He went on to become a business executive, political advisor, bank and housing development company co-founder, and equal justice advocate.

But only older Americans have first-hand memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers star (and longtime Stamford resident). They were youngsters or adolescents when he played, or had recently retired.

In an effort to keep his memory alive, reach younger residents and inspire dialogue, the Westport Library Common Ground Initiative recently sponsored its second Jackie Robinson Essay Contest.

Along with the Westport Center for Senior Activities and Meryl Moss Media, “Dear Jackie Robinson” challenged individuals and inter-generational pairs to write a personal letter to him. The goal was to explore how his courage, dignity and perseverance continue to shape their lives and relationships.

First-place winner Marty Erdheim’s deeply personal and collaborative submission did just that. The 85-year-old retired business owner (and former captain of the Columbia University basketball team) collaborated with his 10-year-old grandson Dylan Henschel. The Saugatuck Elementary School 4th grader plays lacrosse and tennis, and practices jiu jitsu.

Their letter bridged generations, while offering a shared reflection of Robinson’s impact. (His and the other winners’ full letters are below.)

Erdheim received 4 tickets to a New York Mets game, and commemorative items.

Mark Rosenblatt, who spent his career in radio broadcast tech, earned second place — along with 2 tickets to the Jackie Robinson Museum, and a $100 gift certificate — with a powerful letter.

Tobias Slavin took third, and gets a 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers yearbook. A Staples High School 9th grader who plays football, basketball and baseball, he wrote his letter with his 82-year-old “god-grandpa,” Phil Wexler.

Finalist AJ Battersby receives a 1955 Dodgers stamp collection. He’s a 4th grader at Coleytown Elementary School who plays Little League and travel baseball. He collaborated with his grandfather Greg Battersby, a semi-retired attorney who in 40-plus years in Westport has coached over a dozen Little League and Babe Ruth teams (and headed the Babe Ruth program). He invented and patented a baseball pitching machine called the ProBatter pitching simulator, and serves as its CEO (with A.J.’s dad Adam, who is president).

Winners were also recognized by the Library on Friday — the 79th anniversary of his MLB debut — as part of their Jackie Robinson Day programming

“These essays show that Robinson’s legacy is not something we simply remember,” says Library executive director Bill Harmer.

“It lives in how we treat one another, and how we choose to show up in the world.”

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Marty Erdheim and Dylan Henschel

Dear Jackie:

I was one of your very first fans. You came to Brooklyn and I was there, among so many others, to welcome you. I was there when our Dodgers lost the 1951 pennant race as well as the 1952 and 1953 World Series. And of course, I was there when you brought us our first World Series in 1955. Jackie, you changed me, changed Brooklyn and changed the world.

My grandson Dylan Henschel recently asked me about you, Brooklyn and the impact you had on this world. And so began a series of questions and answers.

Dylan: Poppy, you keep on telling me about how great Jackie Robinson really was. So explain to me why he was so great and what was it like growing up in that era?

Poppy: It was magical! Brooklyn was a safe, multi-ethnic borough, with one common adhesive holding us all together: the Brooklyn Dodgers. Actually, I do not recall any Brooklynite, child or adult, who did not root for the Dodgers. And into this mix, a genuine hero emerged. A hero who would change America spiritually but also lead the Dodgers to several National League pennants and finally to a World Series championship.

Baseball was so important to Brooklyn, that when the Dodgers played in the World Series, the games were broadcast over the public schools’ speaker systems and afternoon classes were postponed; this delay would last until the World Series ended.

Dylan: Who introduced him to you?

Poppy: I don’t recall one person who specifically told me that we had a great new player, but I do recall that was the focus of our conversations. We discussed how the Dodgers had never won the World Series and that Jackie just might be the guy who would help get us this championship. We talked about his having to play a position he had never played before, first base. And we of course were aware that he would be the first Black player to play Major League Baseball.

Dylan:  What was the greatest thing you think he ever accomplished?

Poppy: This is easy! By singlehandily integrating baseball, he changed the world. The athletic world now viewed athletes solely by their ability to perform, rather than the color of the skin. Jackie began this! Martin Luther King’s powerful admonition at the Washington Monument to judge people by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin, needs a bit more time for full implementation. But it’s coming and Jackie opened this door.

Dylan: What are some lessons that you learned from him?

Poppy: I learned some very simple lessons from Jackie Robinson! First and most significant in my view, was the importance of striving for excellence. And Jackie was the epitome of a man or woman who focused on excellence. He won varsity letters in 4 sports at UCLA: football, basketball, track and field, and baseball. This didn’t just happen. The coaches at UCLA didn’t put Jackie on their teams because they liked him. It took a focus on excellence plus strong athletic skills to accomplish this. That’s why so few people have accomplished this.

Dylan: How did he make such an impact on everybody?

Poppy: First of all, for us Brooklyn kids of Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn, he provided a genuine hero and a world championship. Never before in Brooklyn! But for our nation he brought us the wisdom to recognize each other by who we are, not what we are. Eighty two years after the Confederacy and slavery were eviscerated, this man was sent to finish the job. We as a nation are still putting finishing touches on this job, but without Jackie, this existential endeavor would not have begun.

Jackie, I am so grateful that I was there, living in your Brooklyn, to bear witness to your impact on America’s most vital dream!

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MARK ROSENBLATT

Dear Mr. Robinson:

I write to you as a Westport resident, a guy who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s, a lifelong baseball fan, and a student of American history. Mr. Robinson, before I shuffle off to Buffalo, I have a question for you about your life and your career, on and off the field.

Let me frame my question for you. In 1968 I was a freshman at Brooklyn College and would walk off campus between classes to a nearby Chock Full o’ Nuts store, with its serpentine sit-down counters, good coffee, and a staff of Black women wearing Chock Full o’ Nuts uniforms.

On the shop walls were large black-and-white photographs of other Chock Full o’ Nuts shops in New York, and I recall that there was a large photo of you at work at the Chock Full o’ Nuts offices on Lexington Avenue wearing a suit, seated behind a desk, with a phone in one hand and a pen signing papers in the other.

At that time I was 17, and I knew all about your baseball career, your civil rights work for fair employment alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and your management position at Chock Full o’ Nuts, a major New York coffee company that had a chain of coffee shops all over New York City. My family drank Chock Full o’ Nuts at home. You were Jackie Robinson. ‘Nuff said.

Staring at your photo at that Chock Full o’ Nuts shop, I wondered whether it was more important to the women working in this shop and the customers coming in that you became in 1957 the first Black vice president of a major U.S. corporation, Chock Full o’ Nuts, than your breaking the MLB color barrier in 1947. So, I ask you as a longtime admirer, what do you think? What’s more important to you? Your MLB career, or your work after your Dodger days were done?

Here’s some background to that question. I was born in 1951 and grew up 3 blocks away from where you first lived when you came to Brooklyn in 1947. I first learned about your Dodger career because my dad would point to Ebbets Field and recite your name and the names Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snyder and Don Newcombe, all fellow Brooklyn Dodgers, and how much the Dodgers were Brooklyn, as we took family drives on Flatbush Avenue to Prospect Park.

By 1958, I thought it perfectly natural that baseball players were white and Black and Caribbean and South American. Why? Because the baseball cards I collected displayed faces that were white and Black and so on and so forth. When I became a Yankees fan, I realized that the only Black Yankee in 1958 was Elston Howard, although I recall that Harry “Suitcase” Simpson was acquired by the Yanks in a mid-season trade.

In early 1959, and in 2nd grade, my family moved to Hicksville in Nassau County, and I looked around at my new classmates and noticed there were no Jackie Robinsons, no Hank Aarons, no Ernie Bankses, no Luis Aparicios, no Roberto Clementes, no Willie Mayses, and certainly no Elston Howards. All of my classmates were Mickey Mantles and Whitey Fords, and I had little hope for a midseason trade to bring in a Harry “Suitcase” Simpson.

During the summer of 1959, my family moved again to Riverhead, in eastern Suffolk County, where I soon started 3rd grade. At that time, Riverhead was the end of the line for many farmworker families who traveled across the U.S. to pick crops, and in Suffolk County, cabbage and potatoes were farming mainstays and were harvested in the Fall.

Most of these itinerant farm worker families were Black, and their kids went to school with me, and in the spring played Little League baseball with me before heading west with their families.

In 1961 I discovered The Baseball Encyclopedia, a book that contained countless baseball statistics and a definitive history of baseball. From this book I learned that you, Mr. Robinson, were the first Black major leaguer, but only a little bit about the stoicism you had to publicly display on and off the field. When I learned that there were Negro Leagues before you broke baseball’s color barrier, it reminded me of an absurd parallel universe portrayed by Bizarro Superman in DC Comics.

So now it’s 2026, and I have a 9-year-old granddaughter who plays Little League baseball, and much to my eternal dismay, is a Baltimore Orioles fan. She’s an avid reader, and I sent her a book on your life, and my question about your life and work came back to me.

What’s more important? Your MLB career, or your achievements afterwards? When my granddaughter’s done with your book, she and I can talk about you.

Respectfully,
Mark Rosenblatt

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TOBIAS SLAVIN and phil wexler

Dear Mr. Robinson,

I am a 15-year-old high school student attending Staples, playing baseball, basketball and football. As you know, competing in multiple sports takes discipline and determination.

In reading about you, you did far more than play baseball. Both on and off the field you encouraged Americans to reassess what was keeping us apart and showed us how courage, dignity and persistence could unite us. When you showed up, society stepped towards justice and decency.

I am lucky enough to have a “God-Grandpa” named Phil Wexler who, at 82, is a fellow sports fanatic. We love to talk about all kinds of sports, teams and players. Phil comes to my games since my grandparents live across the country. (Phil is the father of my Godmother, which is how I came up with the name God-Grandpa). Since I knew he would love this topic, I asked Phil about you over lunch and here is what he shared:

“I was 4 years old when Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947). I was too young to realize the momentous impact he would have on baseball, professional sports and, more importantly, on segregation and the civil rights movement.

“Growing up in Los Angeles, I loved playing Little League baseball. My coach taught me the fundamentals of hitting, bunting, base running, often referring to Jackie Robinson as a great example. Coach also gave me a ‘Jackie Robinson comic book that I still have.

“In the 1950s, I worked at the Parasol, a local ice cream and sandwich shop. The sandwich maker, Frances, often talked to me about her idol, Jackie Robinson. I adored Frances, and this was my first real understanding of the impact Jackie had on people beyond the playing field.

“Later, I attended the University of Southern California. In 1963 I was a counselor for a summer teen tour around the U.S. In Birmingham, Alabama, I first encountered the shock of segregation. City buses, bathrooms and drinking fountains were marked ‘Black Only.’ I was jolted to my core.

“Safely back at USC, I began to realize how Jackie Robinson paved the way for other athletes. My fraternity brother Mike Garrett became the first Heisman Trophy winner at USC, and later played in Super Bowl I for the Kansas Chiefs vs. the Green Bay Packers. After his football career ended, Mike went into education administration and became the athletic director at USC. We stayed in touch and became life-long friends.

“In 1925 Brice Taylor was USC’s first Black player and first All-American in football. In 1970, 45 years later, I listened to a radio football broadcast of USC defeating Alabama on the road 42 –21. Featuring an all-Black backfield of Sam Cunningham, Jimmy Jones and Clarence Davis, the USC team was a stark contrast to the (then) all-white Alabama team. After the game, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, the legendary coach of the Crimson Tide, brought Cunningham into the Alabama locker room and said to his team, “this is what a football player looks like, and next year we will have Black players too,” an important and enduring change for the sport.

“Many exceptional players were able to further shape and grow the foundation of those who came before: Willie Wood, Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Ricky Bell, Lynn Swann, Charle Young, Anthony Davis, Charles White, Marcus Allen, Rodney Peete, Chip Banks, Reggie Bush, Tyron Smith, Robert Woods, Leonard Williams, Adoree Jackson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Caleb Williams, among many others.

“When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, it was exciting to watch Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson and Maury Wills play in person. Similarly, the Lakers showcased Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlin, Kareen Abdul Jabbar, Shaq, Magic Johnson, and played against Oscar Robertson, Julius Erving, Willis Reed, and more.

“I’ve seen Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, Carl Lewis, Rafer Johnson, Arthur Ashe play live. I’ve attended 3 Super Bowls, NBA championships, NCAA championships in football and basketball, the Olympics, world skiing championships, and more. As a role model and pioneer, Jackie Robinson influenced a different life in America and the world, and I can’t think of a better or more meaningful legacy. I only wish he would have gone to USC instead of our archrival, UCLA. But, even with that, he is still the ultimate winner for all of us.”

I couldn’t say it better myself. Your work ethic and confidence were extraordinary. On top of your athleticism, you carried the weight of history on your shoulders. From you, I learned that personal values make a big difference, both in sports and in the classroom. I am working hard to improve the person that I am every day, and your legacy is a large part of what inspires me most.

Sincerely,
Tobias Slavin (and Phil Wexler)

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a.j. battersby and greg battersby

Dear Mr. Robinson,

This is a thank you letter for not only what you achieved on a baseball field but, more importantly, for being a role model for young athletes. You taught us all how to live our lives and be prepared to overcome those obstacles placed in our paths on the road to success. The fact that you did it for our favorite baseball team, the Dodgers (even though they were in Brooklyn at the time), makes it that much more important to us.

Your talent as an awesome baseball player as well as being a great guy sets you apart from most athletes, no matter how young or old they may be. Your accomplishments despite the hardships you faced serve as a personal inspiration for every young athlete. You were a great example of how to overcome hatred, bigotry, and prejudice to achieve your goal.

When we think of you, the first thing we remember is your Hall of Fame career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, playing in several World Series where you performed at the highest level of the game. Watching you play the game we love, whether in person for my dad or on videos for me, was an exciting experience. The time you stole home in the World Series against the Yankees was a particular highlight. Few, if any, players ever attempted to steal home, let alone in a World Series game. You not only tried, but you succeeded. What was particularly exciting and gratifying as a Dodgers fan, was seeing the umpire call you safe and the Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, jumping up and down complaining. We have a framed photo of that play in our office at ProBatter Sports.

There is no question that you were one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but what set you apart from others is what you had to overcome to reach that level. In today’s world,  great athletes are adored or revered. In contrast, you were hated and despised by bigoted fans, not only for being on an opposing team but because of your heritage. Playing baseball at the Major League level is difficult enough for any athlete….playing under those circumstances was something few, if any, other athlete ever had to face.

You played at a top level in front of fans at opposing ballparks, many of whom lacked your skills, intelligence, or grace. Nevertheless, they hurled racial barbs without even knowing you. That made a difficult task almost impossible. Lesser men would have slinked down in a corner and never even tried. Yet you did and succeed. You managed to hold it together and perform at a Hall of Fame level, which is a tribute to you and serves as a model to all players. It is difficult to imagine that any person could achieve what you achieved under those circumstances.

The lesson you taught us was that if you have a dream and the talent to achieve that dream, you should go for it. You must ignore the haters, most of whom lack your talent but are full of hatred. Haters will hate — that is what they do. Being able to deal with those people as you are trying to climb the ladder of whatever career you choose is the challenge. You were a great role model on how to deal with those types of people.

It is hard to imagine the amount of bigotry and hatred you experienced when playing for the Dodgers. I hope and pray that we as people have come a long way since the 1940’s and people are now more accepting for who and what you are rather than what they look like or the color of their skin. Aas a society, we have hopefully come a long way, but there is still room for improvement. Your career and the dignity you showed during your years while “climbing the ladder” went a long way in moving us in the right direction but there is still room for improvement.

You have served as a role model for every young person and an example that they should be evaluated based  on their abilities and performance as well as their grit and determination rather than on their appearance. You are an example of the idea that anyone with the ability and determination can achieve their dream regardless of how they look or where they come from. Your efforts have allowed me and my friends to play baseball and other sports with others, regardless of their race, creed or color which has improved all of our talents and abilities.

Sincerely,
A.J. Battersby and Greg “Pop Pop” Battersby

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