Statue of baseball icon Jackie Robinson is cut off at the ankles and STOLEN from a youth training facility in Kansas as local police share CCTV footage of thieves escaping with it
- Police footage shows the statue being removed from its pedestal and driven away
- League 42’s McAdams Park in Wichita now has a statue showing just the shoes
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
A bronze statue of baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson was cut off at the ankles and taken in a truck from a youth training center in Wichita, Kansas, Thursday morning.
The theft took place at McAdams Park, with the League 42 Foundation using the park for youth baseball. The park’s website claims it was home to the athletic starts of Barry Sanders and Lynette Woodard.
What’s left of the statue are only Robinson’s boots, while police surveillance footage shows the thieves taking the rest of the statue, placing it in the back of a pickup truck and driving away.
“The actions of those individuals who had the audacity to remove the Jackie Robinson statue from a park where children and families in our community can gather, learn the history of Jackie Robinson, an American icon, and play the game of baseball , should upset everyone. of us,” said Wichita Police Chief Joseph Sullivan.
“What concerns me even more is that this theft occurred just before the beginning of February, which marks the beginning of Black History Month,” Sullivan continued. ‘Our city wants the statute to be brought back. We also want the individuals who robbed our community of treasure to be held accountable for their actions.”
Local surveillance footage shows the thieves leaving the Wichita Park with the statue
Only his boots remain from the Robinson statue in Wichita, the rest were stolen Thursday
Robinson is an iconic sports figure and League 42 honored him by building the statue in 2021
Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers and is a pioneer in the sport by integrating what was then America’s most popular sport.
League 42 was founded in 2013 to help Wichita’s youth learn the game of baseball without the high costs associated with the sport.
According to local news reports, League 42 received permission directly from the Robinson family to build the statue of him in 2021.
Robinson’s number 42 has been retired from all 30 Major League Baseball teams, and he is the only player to receive this honor.
In the four major sports leagues, Wayne Gretzky and Bill Russell also received league-wide jersey number retirements. The NFL does not have a league-wide retiree count.
According to the Wichita local government, damages are set at $75,000.