NEW YORK (AP) — Ground has been broken in New York City for the Jackie Robinson Museum after a 10-year wait caused by the Great Recession.
Rachel Robinson, the wife of the trailblazing Hall of Famer, attended Thursday’s ceremony in the SoHo section of Manhattan along with her daughter, Sharon, and baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.
About $23.5 million has been raised to build the museum, now scheduled to open in spring 2019. The Jackie Robinson Foundation hopes to raise a total of $42 million — matching Robinson’s uniform number — to fund an endowment that will pay for the museum’s operations.
Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He died in 1972.