Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #17: 4/15 vs. Cubs

Jackie Robinson Day will be celebrated league-wide and the D-backs pregame ceremony will salute those who are making a positive impact and carrying on Jackie’s legacy. Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church Choir will perform the National Anthem, and the ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Valley-native Raven Gibson, the founder of Legendary Rootz, a Phoenix business that sells apparel and gift items celebrating the Black community. The team will recognize the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year as well as the East Valley United Black Firefighters, who focus on involvement and development in African-American communities, fostering promotion and advancement and promoting overall well-being.

“Maybe tomorrow, we will all wear 42. That way they won’t tell us apart.” As is tradition, all players will be wearing #42 today, to commemorate Robinson, who was the first African-American to break MLB’s color barrier in 1947. His number is the only one to be retired by all the major-league teams. That officially happened on this day in 1997, but players who had the number could continue to wear it. The last was, of course, Mariano Rivera, who sported #42 until he retired at the end of the 2013 season. No Diamondback has ever owned the number, with the last player in the NL West to have it being the Giants’ Kirk Rueter in the 1997 season.