If you were wondering what was going to happen to all the #42 jerseys that will be worn on Sunday for Jackie Robinson’s 60th anniversary of breaking the color barrier, MLB has announced that they will be auctioning them off. All proceeds from the auction will go to benefit the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
There will be jerseys available from 29 of the 30 teams. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is the only current player that wears 42. How will you know if they are the game worn jerseys? MLB is going to be on site to authenticate the jerseys so there will be no frauds. They will be auctioned off at different times during the season so that all of them won’t be available for auction at once. The auction will take place on MLB.com.
On the following teams, all of the members will wear #42: Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates. The list below is the players and coaches who will wear it. Hat tip to Armchair GM for the list.
* Arizona Diamondbacks: Orlando Hudson, Tony Clark, Eric Byrnes, Chris Young, Scott Hairston, and coaches Bob Melvin and Lee Tinsley
* Atlanta Braves: Andruw Jones
* Baltimore Orioles: Corey Patterson
* Boston Red Sox: Coco Crisp
* Chicago Cubs: Jacque Jones, Cliff Floyd, Derrek Lee and Daryle Ward
* Chicago White Sox: Jermaine Dye and coach Harold Baines
* Cincinnati Reds: Ken Griffey Jr. (got permission from Robinson’s widow)
* Cleveland Indians: Josh Barfield and C.C. Sabathia
* Colorado Rockies: LaTroy Hawkins
* Detroit Tigers: Gary Sheffield, Curtis Granderson, Craig Monroe, Marcus Thames, and coach Lloyd McClendon
* Florida Marlins: Dontrelle Willis
* Kansas City Royals: Reggie Sanders, Emil Brown
* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Gary Matthews Jr.
* Milwaukee Brewers: Bill Hall
* Minnesota Twins: Torii Hunter, Rondell White and coach Jerry White
* New York Mets: manager Willie Randolph
* New York Yankees: Mariano Rivera (grandfathered) and Robinson Cano
* Oakland Athletics: Milton Bradley, Shannon Stewart and Tye Waller
* San Diego Padres: Mike Cameron
* San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds
* Seattle Mariners: Arthur Rhodes and Jason Ellison
* Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Carl Crawford
* Texas Rangers: manager Ron Washington
* Toronto Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, Frank Thomas, Royce Clayton and coach Mickey Brantley
* Washington Nationals: Dmitri Young
“Life is not a spectator sport. … If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion, you’re wasting your life.” — Jackie Robinson
