This Wednesday, April 15, as Major League Baseball salutes one of the greatest heroes of the game -- and the nation -- with Jackie Robinson Day, Minor League teams will be playing at and hosting celebrations in ballparks that were central to Robinson's career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In other words, fans have the opportunity to spend Jackie Robinson Day attending a game where Robinson himself played. The Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla., is hosting the Florida State League's Jackie Robinson Celebration Game -- a special event dedicated to Robinson's legacy that raises funds for the United Way of Indian River County -- on April 15.
This year's Jackie Robinson Celebration Game features the Jupiter Hammerheads vs. the Palm Beach Cardinals, who will play as their Frozen Iguanas alternate identity. The roster of the Marlins-affiliated Jupiter club boasts seven of Miami's Top 30 prospects -- including MLB's No. 14 prospect, left-hander Thomas White -- and St. Louis' Palm Beach team has four of the Cards' Top 30 prospects.
Begun as an annual event in 2014, the Jackie Robinson Celebration Game is played at the facility formerly known as Historic Dodgertown, where the Dodgers held Spring Training from the Brooklyn days until LA moved its camp to Arizona prior to the 2009 season. The facility hosted its first game on March 31, 1948; reigning Rookie of the Year Jackie Robinson played in that game.
The Jackie Robinson Celebration Game returned to Vero Beach last year for the first time since 2019, when Historic Dodgertown was renamed the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. (The COVID pandemic and stadium renovations, which wrapped up in the autumn of 2024, were the cause of the hiatus.)
Meanwhile, Daytona's Jackie Robinson Ballpark is home to the Daytona Tortugas (Single-A affiliate of the Reds) and hosts Minor League games on hallowed grounds throughout the Minor League season, including a Tortugas game against the St. Lucie Mets with a tribute to Robinson on April 15.
The Tortugas' roster includes seven of Cincinnati's Top 30 prospects, and three of the Mets' Top 30 prospects are with St. Lucie.
Daytona's ballpark is named for Jackie Robinson for good reason: the 112-year-old stadium is the site of Jackie Robinson's first game as a member of the Brooklyn organization. On March 17, 1946, he suited up for the Triple-A Montreal Royals in an exhibition against the parent-club Dodgers.
And it was no coincidence that exhibition was played at the park then known as City Island Ballpark. The Dodgers' original plan was for the Montreal club (with Robinson) to train in Sanford, Fla., but that plan was met with racist hostility.
Daytona, however, was the home to Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of historically Black Bethune-Cookman College and an African-American of significant societal and political status. Dr. Bethune had already done considerable community-building connecting Black and white communities in Daytona, creating an atmosphere that made it possible for an integrated ballclub to train.
The Tortugas traditionally wear No. 9 -- Robinson's number when he played in Daytona -- on Jackie Robinson Day, and their home park is filled with plaques and interactive displays related to Robinson's career.