When they say they love you but ... PR flinches on Jackie Robinson Day

I’m sad.

The kind of sad that hits when people say they love you but show otherwise. 

In public relations, that dissonance matters, and it stretches way beyond the greeting card aisle.

Major League Baseball sat uncomfortably on my publicity mind for what felt like an obligatory, if not all that sincere, Jackie Robinson Day on April 15. Since 2004, MLB players have worn his jersey number, 42, to celebrate his life, baseball career and heroism on and off the field. Ballparks roll out scoreboard tributes and community donations are made in his honor. April 15 marks the day, 78 years ago, when Robinson became the first Black man to play for an MLB team: the Brooklyn Dodgers. He experienced blood, sweat, tears and taunts to get there all because of the color of his skin.

The troubling part—the hypocritical part—of this year’s celebration is the league’s explaining away reasons it removed DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) language from websites and staying mostly silent while America’s current presidential administration keeps dismantling what Robinson fought for. Why? I’d tell you to ask a first-grade teacher, but who knows what they’re even allowed to teach under today’s hateful mandates.

Some MLB statements this week felt like templates with logo decorations. I beg the league going forward: Don’t play fans like fools. That said, you’ve got to applaud many at the club level who fight to tell Robinson’s complete story. That includes the Dodgers, who understandably got hammered for visiting a racially rabid White House a week before they hosted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who always speaks his mind about diversity and equity.

As public relations agents, we owe our audiences the real story. New fans learn about Jackie every year. So yes, repeat the facts: discrimination pushed Robinson into the Negro Leagues before he ever got a shot at MLB. That context belongs.

Those stories, as Yahoo! Sports senior writer Jake Mintz wrote, deserve to be told alongside Robinson’s bravery in the fight.

Fans can handle the truth

Wear Robinson’s number proudly any day of the year. But if you’re going to commemorate his life, you’ve got to show the whole picture—not just the shiny parts. Robinson and other Black athletes fought to play on the biggest stages. Like other marginalized groups, they were barred from more places than they were allowed.

Own that. Teach that. Reveal the atrocities. Say they were wrong. Spell out why discrimination still exists and that calling it out matters. Help kids hearing Robinson’s name for the first time understand that he wasn’t just a ballplayer—he was a man fighting to be seen as human.

That’s the only way to do justice to Robinson’s real legacy—and respect your audience.

If you’re in business or pitching any product, your PR has a better chance to soar when you do what you say.

From the mailbox 📭- To reader Cathy B., who asked about the hype surrounding Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters win, marking his career Grand Slam. He’s one of six to achieve the feat in men’s professional golf history.

“Pretty sure the number of women with a career Grand Slam is more than six. Tennis, even more,” Cathy wrote.

🏌🏻‍♀️She’s right. According to lpga.com, seven women golfers have won career Grand Slams (four major career titles). The women’s tour takes it a step further and awards a Super Career Grand Slam to players who win five different major tournaments (The Evian Championship didn’t become a major until 2013). Australian Karrie Webb is the only athlete to achieve the Super.

🎾Ten women’s tennis players have won career Grand Slams compared to the men’s eight.

© 2025 Gail Sideman, gpublicity.com

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