Come September, baseball fans will delight in the new Jackie Robinson Museum set to open in Hudson Square. It's been fourteen years in the making, but finally the first African American to play in major league baseball will be celebrated in appropriate fashion. Robinson broke the color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, and went on to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
40,000 historical images, 450 hours of video footage and over 4,500 artifacts will fill the 19,380-square-foot space. There will be a permanent exhibition space, along with rotating galleries. Not only will his contribution to the sports world be featured, but his influence on politics and entertainment and dedication to civil rights will be examined as well. (Did you know that Robinson started his own bank after learning that certain banks were denying mortgage loans to Black people? Or that he started a housing development corporation and built 200 units throughout New York city? We certainly didn't!)
So what will you see? Robinson's Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he earned posthumously in 1984, along with his Brooklyn Dodgers and army uniforms and his 1947 rookie contract with the Dodgers. Plus much, much more.
Tickets will run you $18 for adults and $15 for college students, kids 5-17 and seniors. Children under 5 are free.
Image via PictureLake/iStock
