Cincinnatti’s Ken Griffey, Jr. called Bud Selig asking to wear Jackie Robinson’s #42 on April 15th. That’s the 60th anniversary of Jackie breaking baseball’s infamous color barrier. Selig embraced the idea, and allowed all 30 teams to participate for one day only. So far Torii Hunter, Barry Bonds, and Willie Randolph have publicly acknowledged partcipating. Former Met Mike Cameron will honor Jackie by wearing his number. All 25 Dodger players will also be wearing No.42.
Kudos to Griffey for the great idea. Currently, only Mariano Rivera wears Jackie’s number since it was universally retired 10 years ago. Rivera was grandfathered, having worn the number prior to it’s retirement.