You might be able to find something valuable at a garage sale, but what about something that has historical significance. It might be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but in this video, you’ll see something truly remarkable and it was just laying on the ground, strewn amongst some sports equipment in the driveway.
Sports fans and anyone interested in a piece of American history will enjoy hearing this jaw-dropping story. This piece of memorabilia has a finger on the pulse of our current national struggle.
Bruce Scapecchi was out doing what he does every Saturday morning, driving around to garage sales and looking to discover something special. Scapecchi says each summer he attends upwards of five thousand garage sales, so he’s a veteran and an expert in the garage sale game.
He parked his car and walked up the suburban driveway on a cookie-cutter street. The little garage sale looked just like any other, but then he spotted something that might just be extraordinary.
There was a piece of wood on the ground under a ping pong table. Really nondescript if you weren’t looking for the spectacular. It was tossed down there with some aluminum baseball bats. It may have looked like nothing, but Scapecchi had an eye for interesting finds.
He asked the owner how much, and Sue McEntee told him one dollar.
Scapecchi asked her if she knew what this was. Unsure of why he was asking such a simple question, she told him it was an old baseball bat. Nothing special, and he could have it for a dollar cash.
Scapecchi wasn’t absolutely sure about this baseball bat, but he did recognize it as having a unique grip that may belong to a specific and historic player.
He took McEntee aside and told her she might have something special. Did she have a pencil?
McEntee went inside and brought out a pencil, her interest piqued.
Scapecchi rubbed the graphite from the pencil across a certain part of the bat, which highlighted something that proved this was no ordinary piece of maple.
The graphite made something stand out, an engraving was carved into the wood. The engraving was worn down over the years but it was clear who’s bat this belonged to. Reading the name brought back memories to McEntee’s mind. She thought of her Uncle, a real-life major leaguer named Joe Hatten.
Now that would be too simple if the bat belonged to her uncle. No, the story is way more than that.
The name that was engraved on the bat was someone her uncle Joe had played with for the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the year 1947. A historic year for baseball and an even more historic year for American civilization writ large.
The name was right there, this bat belonged to the one and only Jackie Robinson.
Jackie Robinson is an American baseball player who was the first African American to break the color line and play in Major League Baseball. In 1947, Robinson put on a Dodgers uniform and took the field at First Base amidst booing, racial slurs, and cheering. Whether anyone liked it or not the world changed that day, for the better.
Robinson received the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, he was an All-Star for six seasons and elected National League MVP in 1949.
He played in six world series and was quintessential to the team in 1955 when Dodgers won the world series. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
All those accolades sure look nice on his bio, and don’t get me wrong he was a stellar athlete, but what is the true endearing lesson of his life was what he had to endure when breaking the color line. Being the first he had to hold steady as an example of grace and resolve.
Robinson had to endure strife from his own teammates, and then from the opposing teams.
Jackie Robinson has been on the minds of many folks these days and the sorrowful passing of actor Chadwick Boseman. The actor who was the Black Panther had created a memorable role as Jackie Robinson in the fine movie “42.”
Chadwick recently passed away shocking the world.
How Jackie was thrust into the spotlight to open the color lines in America’s favorite pastime, was and still is a shining moment for the social experiment that is the United States.
And think of who in your circle will love to hear about this amazing and magical find at a neighborhood garage sale. You never know what you’ll find. It might just be a world-changing piece of memorabilia. Something to remind us of where we come from as a nation and where we must make change for a better world.
Prepare to lift your jaw off the floor as you watch this video.
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