A Fitting Tribute to Jackie Robinson

A blog about the things that this blog is supposed to be about may not seem like a place to find a story about professional baseball players, but this isn't really a story about baseball. In fact, it's more about leadership. All educators are in positions of leadership and effective leaders maintain an emotional intelligence, and an emotional repertoire that models dignity, grace, and composure at all times.

Mariano Rivera is universally regarded as professional baseball's best closer ever (that's the pitcher who closes out the end of most games for the winning team). In one recent ESPN radio talk show the host of the show pointed to his complete dominance at his position for the past 14 seasons. Over that time, he has never had a down period. He's never gone into a "slump" and he's never had a long-term injury. He's never been questioned in his role and he's never been demoted to sharing his role throughout this entire period. It's NOT Rivera's dominance that is a tribute to Jackie Robinson, nor that Rivera may be the last player to wear Jackie's number (42), which was retired by all of Major League Baseball.

It is Rivera's emotional intelligence that makes him the most fitting tribute to Robinson.

Robinson has long been a hero of mine because of the circumstances that led to him being chosen as the first african-american in baseball. While Robinson was a phenomenal baseball player and arguably one of baseball's best athletes ever, he wasn't universally regarded as the best player in the negro leagues at the time. Players like Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson were regarded as established professionals who competed with dominance against the white players of their time, but Robinson had something other than athleticism that made him a more ideal first choice. Robinson was regarded as an individual that could take the public ridicule that would certainly come with being the first black baseball player. Individuals like Branch Rickey knew that regardless of how well the first player played, it would be his ability to handle ridicule, death threats, and even physical abuse at the hands of other players and even fans that would be the measure of his success. Rickey was smart enough to know that the first player to break the color barrier would have to be able to persevere in an unfair situation. This player, whoever it was to be, would have to be able to live an experience that no player before, and no player since would have to tolerate. This player would have to thrive amid the most intense pressure, and while living under a microscope that would expose everything about his life, both personal and professional.

In short, Jackie Robinson while perhaps not an easy choice, was regarded as an individual who could whether all of these expectations and what is truly incredible about Jackie is not that he met these expectations, but that he exceeded them. Robinson demonstrated an emotional control, tolerance in the face of abuse, perseverance, fortitude and determination that won him fans among his fellow players and fans throughout baseball who otherwise were opposed to the integration of baseball.

This ability to remain emotionally in control, composed, and calm regardless of external circumstances is what sets Mariano Rivera apart as the best tribute to Jackie Robinson's legacy.

Rivera, in one recent game received a stare down from a player on an opposing team. Rivera's response was simply a non-recognition of the event.

In an era with players, and even coaches who display the narrowest of emotional resilience and repertoires of coping strategies, Rivera consistently, continuously, and without exception demonstrates a level of professionalism that has never been exceeded.

Rivera's message to all of us is one of perspective. Rivera, by demonstrating his composure, and especially in reminding us of Jackie Robinson every time he performs reminds all of us to keep our lives in perspective. Whether it's one's own mistakes on the job, or the irrational and sometimes unbalanced nature in the way we are treated by those who are attentive to our actions, Rivera, like Robinson did, reminds us that these events, and these people do not define us.

In the end it is our dignity in the face of challenge that defines us and it is our emotional resilience that girds this dignity empowering us to persevere and be a model for others.

While I have become a far less enthusiastic professional sports fan over the last 30 years, I still tune in to watch individuals who command respect and who serve as a model for principles and dispositions worth emulating. I am less a fan of teams and more a fan of individuals who are these models.

Thank you Mariano Rivera for the class, dignity, and emotional intelligence you model so well. More importantly, thank you for the impact you have on so many people outside of baseball.