The sawed-off cleats that were left behind when thieves hijacked a bronze Jackie Robinson statue in Kansas are being donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
The 275-pound sculpture was taken last month from McAdams Park in Wichita, where hundreds of children play baseball in a league dedicated to the trailblazing player: League 42.
Cops believe the poachers hoped to sell the prized sculpture for scrap metal.
“We thought it was the absolute right thing to do,” Bob Lutz, who founded and operates League 42, told ESPN.
“It’s looking like the cleats will be delivered by April 11, definitely before Jackie Robinson Day [April 15].”
According to Lutz, the cleats will be honored with a ceremony when they arrive at the museum, located in Kansas City, Missouri.
They will join a series of other Robinson-related relics on display, including a damaged plaque honoring the civil rights icon that was shot at multiple times shortly after it was erected in 2001 outside Robinson’s birthplace near Cairo, Georgia.
“It’s kind of sad in its own way, that we’re building this little shrine of Jackie Robinson stuff that has been defaced or damaged,” said Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
“But it gives us an opportunity to speak to who he was, the characteristics and value of what he represented, even in the face of adversity. And that message really never goes out of style.”
Robinson was Major League Baseball’s first player to smash the color barrier when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Witcita erected the sculpture honoring the hero in 2021 — shelling out upwards of $100,000 for its installation.
Fire crews found charred remnants of his statue five days after the theft while responding to a trash can fire at another park about 7 miles away.
Earlier this month, police arrested 45-year-old Ricky Angel Alderete with the promise that more arrests would be forthcoming. Three men were caught on surveillance toppling over the statue in what officials blasted as a “horrendous” and “disgusting” crime.
Investigators do not believe the crime was hate-related, but that the culprits hoped to make money off the metal.
Donations poured in after the theft, totaling around $300,000 — including a $100,000 gift from Major League Baseball.
The community plans to use the funds to erect a new Robinson statue.
Robinson punched his ticket into the Hall of Fame in 1962 – the first black player to enter Cooperstown. The lightning-quick infielder, who boasted a .313 MLB career batting average, began his career with the Kansas City Monarchs as part of the Negro Leagues before signing with Brooklyn.
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2024-02-25 06:58:00Z
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