42 was the number of Jackie Robinson’s baseball uniform and is the title of a current movie about his life. While this movie is now playing, Jason Collins with his number 98 basketball uniform is being called a courageous hero because he announced, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”
Jackie Robinson was the first black to play in major league baseball. Jason Collins is the first black to publicly announce that he is a homosexual. In our culture of sexual relativism, this makes him a hero, not for any real accomplishments, but simply for publicly announcing that he practices sexual acts with other men that are abhorrent to God, reason and nature. A true hero is one who practices moral virtue and not immoral vice.
Jackie Robinson was a true hero. He entered the major leagues with his promise that he would not retaliate against the pervasive discrimination and taunts that he knew would come against him. He practiced Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and turned the other cheek to all who abused him. That took truly great courage.
Moreover, Jackie was a true hero and role model for all of the black athletes to come after him, concluding Jason Collins. He was voted Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and named to baseball’s All- Century Team. His one-man heroic self-sacrifice paved the way to the Civil Rights Movement and helped to raise up the whole black race to true equality.
On Jackie’s last day on Earth, October 24, 1972, his wife Rachel was fixing breakfast when he raced into the kitchen. He put his arms around his wife of 26 years and said, “I love you.” Then he collapsed and died of a heart attack on the way to the hospital.
In 1997, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced that major league baseball would retire Jackie’s number. He said, “Number 42 belongs to Jackie Robinson for the ages.”
Who Is the Real Hero 42 or 98?
