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It was around noon last Thursday when Bob Lutz left work and headed home before the start of his daily radio show. He looked down 17th Street in Wichita, Kan., from the offices of League 42, a nonprofit baseball league founded in 2013. On a rainy, cloudy day, he looked toward the statue of Jackie Robinson, which the league installed in 2021. The statue was a symbol of hope and resilience. However, Lutz could not see the bronze depiction of the man who broke baseball’s color barrier.
For a moment, Lutz wondered if it was covered in fog. He blinked. Looked again. Doubting himself, he called an assistant out of the building to join him. When the woman looked, she too could not see the idol.
Soon they were across the street, where the strange hallucination of a missing statue turned into reality. Jackie Robinson was gone, cut off just above his shoottops.
“The emotions were overwhelming,” Lutz said.
The story that followed became national headlines. Surveillance video captured the men entering the Jackie Robinson Pavilion around midnight Thursday, removing the statue, worth $75,000, and placing it in a truck. Wichita police held a press conference and requested its withdrawal.
“I am disappointed by the actions of those individuals who had the audacity to take a statue of Jackie Robinson from a park where children and families in our community gather to learn the history of Jackie Robinson, an American icon, and play the game of baseball, Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said during a news conference Friday. “This should disturb all of us.”
Lutz’s worst fears were soon realized. Tuesday morning, the Wichita Fire Department responded to a report of a trash can fire at Garvey Park. The fire was extinguished. Fragments of Robinson’s statue remained in its ashes.
Our statue was found in Wichita’s Garvey Park, vandalized and burned. A press conference will begin soon.
– Bob Lutz (@boblutz) 30 January 2024
Although it is unclear whether the theft and destruction was racially motivated, the act struck a deep blow to the hearts of those invested in the league and the broader baseball community.
“I’m disappointed it was stolen,” Lutz said. “It is beyond comprehension that people would do this. But when people do such despicable things, it can be no surprise when they do equally despicable things. I wasn’t surprised. I am saddened by the whole thing. It’s too bad that people would disrespect our statues, especially Jackie Robinson’s statue.”
League 42 started in 2013 as the brainchild of Lutz. A longtime journalist and radio host and lifelong lover of baseball, he became disheartened when he read stories and saw statistics about the declining number of young Americans playing baseball. Rising costs and the spread of travel ball culture have made the game less accessible than ever.
Lutz said, “The idea that young kids, especially kids of color, were being prevented from playing baseball was disturbing to me.” “I think every kid should have this opportunity.”
With the help of local partners, Lutz worked to start an affordable league that charges $30 per family. League 42 provides uniforms and equipment. It limits its enrollment to 600 children, as a way to focus on quality over quantity.
The league got its name early on, when Lutz and others were meeting on the subject. Some people spit out names. None of them stuck. Eventually, someone in the group came up with the idea of honoring Jackie Robinson. Almost immediately, someone else replied: “Why don’t we call it League 42?”
“It’s like being struck by lightning,” Lutz said. “It was the obvious name for us.”
As the league moved forward and expanded its enrollment, Lutz said he tried to emulate Robinson’s legacy in many ways. The league provides educational programs and teaches the importance of Robinson’s pioneering spirit in the face of racism, the dangers of violence, and many of humanity’s worst impulses.
The league began in 2014 with 16 teams and 200 kids. By 2020, this had increased to 44 teams. In 2015, League 42 received a $1.5 million contribution from the city to expand its facilities and add a third playing field at McAdams Park.
Ultimately, the league sought to erect a statue of Robinson as a symbol of its values and its mission. League 42 consulted with name, image and likeness lawyers and received permission from the Robinson family and the Jackie Robinson Foundation. The Wichita community rallied to raise funds for the statue and awarded the commission to local artist John Parsons. The Robinson statue was erected in 2021.
The statue will be unveiled in 2021. (Courtesy of League 42)
Less than three years later, when that statue disappeared, the reaction was intense.
“I feel as if I have lost a close friend or relative and my anger is flaring,” Lutz wrote on Facebook that day. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do.”
However, Lutz quickly became overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. People arrived from Wichita and far away. Community members gathered at the Jackie Robinson Pavilion as a vigil of sorts. They placed roses and a red cap with the number 42 on it where the statue once stood. A heart-shaped note on the flowers read: we miss you, They found that the cast of the original statue was still viable, and a GoFundMe account raised nearly $50,000 for a new statue in two days.
We had a nice, if not warm, gathering at the site of our stolen Jackie Robinson statue. Thanks to everyone who came out. It was good to be together and especially to see our kids and players in good numbers. I love them. pic.twitter.com/3jHwUYfJJS
– Bob Lutz (@boblutz) 27 January 2024
Lutz was transferred to Kansas City, MO. He also received words of encouragement from Negro Leagues Museum president Bob Kendrick, who visited the League 42 in 2022 and took a photo with the Robinson statue. “We got your support,” Kendrick told him.
“They’re doing extremely valuable work in opening up opportunities for kids of all colors to play this game, which is part of the museum’s mission,” Kendrick said. “We are here to preserve a precious piece of baseball Americana and its past. We also have an important role in taking our game forward.”
Losing the statue could be an unfortunate reminder of the hatred that still persists in society, Kendrick said.
“With progress,” Kendrick said, “comes a tendency to forget.”
In 2021, Cairo, Ga. Locals discovered that a historical marker commemorating the place of Robinson’s birth had been fired from a shotgun. Officials observed excessive damage around the words “Negro American” and “Baseball’s color barrier.” Major League Baseball responded by making a $40,000 gift to the Georgia Historical Society, allowing for a new marker and an endowment fund in Robinson’s name.
In Wichita, while police continue to search for the criminals behind the thefts, the community continues to rally behind the group. It has left Lutz emotionally overwhelmed in a different way.
Watching from a distance, Kendrick notes similarities between League 42 and a man he respects.
Kendrick said, “You can steal the statue, but you can’t steal the spirit of what Jackie represented.” “I think what you’re seeing from the public at large is a Jackie Robinson-like determination for good to overcome evil. And so every time you’re ready to give up on humanity – and we know we can’t give up on humanity – humanity comes forward and reminds us of what we already know: comparisons to bad people. There are more good people in . Always has been, always will be.”
Since the theft of the statue, Lutz has been giving frequent updates on his Facebook page. In a post on Tuesday, he revealed the unknown motives behind those who stole and burnt the idol. Why did they do it? Does he feel any remorse? Do they know about Jackie Robinson and why he remains such a touching symbol of hope?
“I hope to learn more about the perpetrators in the coming days,” Lutz wrote. “If they were brought to my office at the Leslie Rudd Learning Center, I wouldn’t be angry. I will ask them the questions I have asked here. And I hope I listen.
(Top photo: Courtesy of League 42)
