In his final days in office, President Joe Biden signed a bill establishing Daytona Beach’s Jackie Robinson Ballpark as a National Commemorative Site. The ballpark, which still hosts college and professional baseball, was a major step for Jackie Robinson in his journey to breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
The legislation to honor Jackie Robinson Ballpark, titled The Jackie Robinson Ballpark Commemorative Site Act, was introduced by a bipartisan coalition of federal lawmakers, some with a local connection. In the House of Representatives the bill was sponsored by Republican Michael Waltz (FL-6) and Democrat Darren Soto (FL-9) among others, and in the Senate it was backed by Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
The signing of the legislation into law by President Biden places the Ballpark just one step from becoming a National Historic Landmark. The U.S. Department of the Interior will evaluate whether that step is taken, a hurdle jeopardized if anything by only the expected turbulence of a presidential transition. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior is North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
The ballpark, then known as City Island Ballpark, was where Robinson played ahead of his MLB debut in the 1947 season. Other city governments resisted efforts to get Robinson on a professional field for his minor league stint, using coordinated efforts with law enforcement to uphold policies of segregation. Robinson’s resiliency would pave the way for the end of racial exclusion in the MLB.
