A rebuilt bronze Jackie Robinson statue returns to Kansas 6 months after the original was stolen
A rebuilt bronze statue of baseball icon Jackie Robinson is back in Wichita, Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — With a rebuilt statue of Jackie Robinson in bronze back in Kansas, some of the late baseball icon's biggest fans are breathing a sigh of relief.
The original sculpture depicting Robinson resting a bat on his shoulder was cut off at its ankles in January, leaving only Robinson’s cleats behind at McAdams Park in Wichita, home of urban youth baseball League 42.
The statue is not only a piece of art or even just a tribute to the first Black player in Major League Baseball, said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
“That statue had become a symbol: a symbol of hope, a symbol of inspiration, of the core values that were part of Jackie’s legacy. Those were fixtures here in the ballpark,” Kendrick said.
