John D'Aponte

This tee recognizes Robinson’s legacy in Barack Obama’s achievement, and shows our 44th president some Brooklyn love.

“I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin’ zebra, I say he plays. What’s more, I say he can make us all rich.” Said Brooklyn Dodger Manager, Leo Durocher at a midnight team meeting held in the kitchen of the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba during spring training in 1947.

Nine years later, after winning 6 pennants, league MVP, and Brooklyn’s only World Championship, Robinson left baseball to begin his new role as one of the first black executives of a major American corporation, the Vice-President of Chock Full o’ Nuts.

It took John “Jackie” Roosevelt Robinson halfway through that first season to hit his stride, due mostly to the avalanche of taunts and threats hurled at him around the league. After death multiple threats, his teammate suggested the entire team wear Number 42 in solidarity with their second baseman. Let’s all wear Number 44 for another breaker of barriers.

Available in all sorts of colors and styles here and here.

Posted in: -all- brooklyn wearable