It’s a story that sounds like “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.”
When Jackie Robinson and his family were between homes — stymied in their search because of the racist real estate practices of the early 1950s — they were taken in by a white Connecticut couple that helped them secure a plot of land. Like the Robinsons, the couple had young children, one of whom was a 10-year-old girl who would tag along with Jackie to Dodgers games and serve as the team’s unofficial mascot. And, like Jackie, she would go on to compile a lot of hits … only hers were of the music variety.
Carly Simon’s relationship with the Robinsons is a fun footnote in both Jackie’s story and her own. Not many know these two Hall of Famers — Robinson in Cooperstown, Simon in both the Rock and Roll and the Songwriters Halls of Fame — crossed paths, let alone that they had an almost familial friendship.
From the day in 2004 that Commissioner Bud Selig proclaimed April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day, there have been some monumental moments. These are the most profound.