The critical points would be Jackie's impact on baseball, professional sports, the United States, and the world in general. Tedaro France, New Haven's football and track and field all-stater, said learning about Robinson in school would help. It's sad, but that's the way it is. Baseball's dwindling popularity doesn't help matters. Basketball and football, with their commercials and videos, have a stranglehold on the heartstrings of youth.
Baseball is considered slow and boring.
Even the coaches themselves tend to forget about the historical value of the game. The kids are less interested, and nobody seems to care about it. France, who has a 3.0 grade-point average and is going to Central Michigan, said he remembers learning about Robinson in Black History Month presentations in grade school, and in numerous movies. The fans called him all those names. And he wasn't allowed to answer back.