Baseball honors No. 42

The Associated Press NEW YORK -- In the years when Jesse Simms was growing up, he would hear the stories about his grandfather, about how Jackie Robinson changed his sport and his country. Simms threw out the first ball Tuesday night at Shea Stadium, as baseball honored his grandfather with tributes far more lavish than those that noted his landmark breakthrough as the major leagues' first black player 50 years ago. Even on this cool April night, there was a postseason mood about the game, with both the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers teams introduced and lining up at the foul lines. Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax was among the half-dozen old Brooklyn Dodgers players who were introduced. On the main scoreboard was a photograph of Robinson in his classic white Brooklyn uniform coming down the third base line, daring a pitcher to do something about it. Next to that was a message: ''He was the handsome, heroic giant of our youth who taught us determination, taught us perseverance and finally, he taught us justice.'' President Clinton, on hand to address the fans later in the game, said most Americans today cannot imagine the importance of Robinson's achievement, coming years before many other parts of society were integrated. ''It was baseball. It was a statement about America,'' Clinton said in an interview on ESPN. ''I hope that all Americans, as we start a new century? go back to the lessons of that Dodger team,'' Clinton said. Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, also was to speak during the game. Simms, tossed the first pitch to Mets catcher Todd Hundley. He shook hands with home plate umpire Eric Gregg, a black, as he came on the field and again when he left. Robinson died in 1972, seven years before his only daughter, Sharon, gave birth to Simms. And as soon as her son was old enough to understand, Sharon Robinson explained who his grandfather was and what he had done. ''I was in the fifth or sixth grade before I learned everything he stood for and everything he believed in,'' Simms said. As the young man grew into a football player and a prospect, he began being recruited by colleges. And that was when he really heard about Jackie Robinson. Simms picked UCLA, and will play there this fall, following in Jackie Robinson's football footsteps. He is his own man, though. He will wear his high school No. 31, not his grandfather's famous No. 42 or the No. 28 he wore at the school. ''What I strive for is to carry on his legacy and leadership values,'' Simms said. When Robinson broke into the majors on April 15, 1947, there was no civil rights movement in America. It was a year before President Truman desegregated the armed services. The Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court was still seven years away. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a sophomore at Morehouse College. It was in that environment that Robinson embarked on his lonely odyssey, one made all the more difficult by his pledge to Dodgers boss Branch Rickey not to answer the fusillade of abuse triggered by his arrival.