A rebuilt bronze Jackie Robinson statue will be unveiled 6 months after the original was stolen
WICHITA, Kansas — a rebuilt statue of Jackie Robinson in bronze will be welcomed home by Little League players and former Major League Baseball All-Stars on Monday, just over six months after the original was destroyed by thieves.
The original statue of the baseball icon with a bat on his shoulder was cut off at the ankles in January, leaving only Robinson’s cleats in McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas.
An identical statue will return to the park, where about 600 children play in the city’s youth baseball league called League 42, which was founded in 2013 and is named after Robinson’s jersey number with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Playing for the Dodgers, Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s racial barrier in 1947.
The community is expected to be joined Monday by representatives from Major League Baseball and former players, including All-Stars CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, according to League 42 posts on social media.
The nonprofit received an outpouring of support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after news of the stolen statue shocked the community and spread across the country. League 42 Executive Director Bob Lutz said this year that the donations helped pay for the replacement statue, as well as improvements to the plaza where it stands, the nonprofit’s facilities and programming.
The rebuilt statue is identical to the original because the mold was still viable. It was dedicated in 2021 and was created by artist John Parsons, a friend of Lutz’s before he passed away in 2022.
Firefighters found burned remains of the original statue five days later after it is gone. One man pleaded guilty and will spend approximately 15 years in prison, although most of that time will be related to a burglary that occurred a few days after the statue theft.
Ricky Alderete was convicted friday to 18 months in prison and $41,500 in restitution for stealing the statue, an act he said was fueled by his fentanyl addiction.
The lonely clamps of the original found a new home this year at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for generations of black American baseball players. He is not only a sports legend, but also an icon of civil rightsRobinson died in 1972.