Friday, April 13, 2007

Russell Remembers No. 42 After Fenway Rainout

For a change, it's a slow news day as far as weather intermingling with sporting events is concerned. The past week has been pretty hectic. The Cleveland Indians tonight will play their true home opener at Jacobs Field after being relocated to Milwaukee following a snow storm in Cleveland. Yesterday, the Red Sox had their game with Seattle postponed after rain pelted Fenway Park. And from that rain out comes this gem of a story from the Hartford Courant that allows former Celtics great Bill Russell talk about his hero worship of Jackie Robinson. Below is an excerpt of the article followed by a link to the full story. Major League Baseball is honoring Robinson Sunday on the 60th anniversary of his breaking the baseball color barrier.

The cold, pelting rain made for a dark day at Fenway Park Thursday.

Inside, though, Bill Russell's heartfelt words turned that all around.

He wanted to praise his hero, Jackie Robinson.

"You may or may not know that I was a pallbearer at Jackie Robinson's funeral," he told a group of reporters on a day that the Red Sox were to honor the late Celtics patriarch, Red Auerbach.

"The day after he died [in 1972] Rachel Robinson called me to ask if I would be a pallbearer," Russell said. "When Jackie broke into baseball, I was in junior high school. To all of us, he was our hero, and here she was asking me to be one of his pallbearers."

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The photo above is not from Thursday's rainout. It's an AP photo from a 2005 game at Fenway between the Sox and Devil Rays.

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