Rebuilt Jackie Robinson statue returns to Kansas 6 months after the original was stolen

Eight year old Marcus Jones spent Monday evening with hundreds of people in mcadams Park to do something. He's been waiting months for, to see the brand new Jackie Robinson statue. Jones says words can't describe the feeling when he and his league. 42 teammates pulled down the cover. I can't even explain it so out of this World League 42 director Bob Lutz says it's been *** difficult six months since thieves cut down the statue at the ankles and stole it. But he says, looking out at the crowd and seeing so many people standing in unity made it all worth it. We're so happy to have the statue back where it belongs and now we move forward and some kind of normalcy comes back and we're ready for that. Among the crowd were people like Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City where the bronze cleats the thieves left behind are now on display. My heart is filled with joy. It wasn't that way. In January, there was *** lot of despair. And since that took place, I think we all saw and gain *** renewal in spirit as so many people stepped up to seemingly try to right *** wrong Jones says his biggest hope is that more people will learn about his hero, Jackie Robinson and the lifelong values he's learned from the baseball star. It doesn't matter if you win. If you have team support, it matters. If you have that spirit that you can tell your team that whatever you tell them, just have that sport in you that Jackie Robinson put in you.

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,.“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.He said that made it difficult to explain the statue's theft to the 600 children who play in League 42, which was named after Robinson's uniform with the Brooklyn Dodgers, where Robinson broke Major League Baseball's racial barrier in 1947. Kendrick and others worried the children might lose faith in humanity.That is until people from across the country stepped up to help replace it six months after thieves destroyed the original.“It reminds us that there has always been more good people in this world than bad people,” Kendrick said. “The minute that you’re ready to give up on people, what happens? The good people in this case literally stepped up to the plate. And it renews your faith in people.”Little League players and former Major League Baseball players, including All-Stars CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, were set to gather for a ceremony Monday evening to unveil an identical statue now standing in the park where League 42 plays.The league was met with an outpouring of support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after news of the stolen statue shocked the community and spread across the country. The donations helped fund the replacement statue, as well as improvements to the plaza where it stands, the nonprofit league’s facilities and its programming, said Bob Lutz, its executive director.The rebuilt statue is identical to the original because the mold was still viable. Dedicated in 2021, it was created by artist John Parsons, a friend of Lutz's who died in 2022.Firefighters found burned remnants of the original statue five days after it disappeared. One man pleaded guilty and will spend about 15 years in prison, although most of that time is related to a burglary that happened a few days after the statue heist.Ricky Alderete was sentenced Friday to 18 months and ordered to pay $41,500 restitution for stealing the statue, an act he said stemmed from his addiction to fentanyl.The lonely cleats of the original found a new home at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.Robinson played for the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. His impact was felt beyond sports; he galvanized the civil rights movement. He died in 1972.

WICHITA, Kan. —

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,.

“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.

He said that made it difficult to explain the statue's theft to the 600 children who play in League 42, which was named after Robinson's uniform with the Brooklyn Dodgers, where Robinson broke Major League Baseball's racial barrier in 1947. Kendrick and others worried the children might lose faith in humanity.

That is until people from across the country stepped up to help replace it six months after thieves destroyed the original.

“It reminds us that there has always been more good people in this world than bad people,” Kendrick said. “The minute that you’re ready to give up on people, what happens? The good people in this case literally stepped up to the plate. And it renews your faith in people.”

Little League players and former Major League Baseball players, including All-Stars CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, were set to gather for a ceremony Monday evening to unveil an identical statue now standing in the park where League 42 plays.

The league was met with an outpouring of support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after news of the stolen statue shocked the community and spread across the country. The donations helped fund the replacement statue, as well as improvements to the plaza where it stands, the nonprofit league’s facilities and its programming, said Bob Lutz, its executive director.

The rebuilt statue is identical to the original because the mold was still viable. Dedicated in 2021, it was created by artist John Parsons, a friend of Lutz's who died in 2022.

Firefighters found burned remnants of the original statue five days after it disappeared. One man pleaded guilty and will spend about 15 years in prison, although most of that time is related to a burglary that happened a few days after the statue heist.

Ricky Alderete was sentenced Friday to 18 months and ordered to pay $41,500 restitution for stealing the statue, an act he said stemmed from his addiction to fentanyl.

The lonely cleats of the original found a new home at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Robinson played for the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. His impact was felt beyond sports; he galvanized the civil rights movement. He died in 1972.

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