Curtis Granderson Plans '42' Outing For Brooklyn Students On Jackie Robinson Day
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Curtis Granderson plans on making the most of an off day in his rehabilitation from a broken right forearm.
The injured Yankees outfielder flew to New York and intends to take students from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn to a screening of the Jackie Robinson movie "42" on Monday. The school's athletic fields were damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
Granderson wanted to give New York some love -- with the Yankees off and the Mets out of town -- on the day MLB will celebrate Robinson breaking the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
"In my rehab, whether I was in Florida or up here in New York, this was going to be a scheduled off day for me anyways, so it all timed out great," Granderson told WFAN radio's Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on Monday.
Curtis Granderson
(You can download the entire interview HERE.)
Granderson said it wasn't uncommon to hear racially charged comments as a young kid playing baseball.
"I was one of maybe two or three black guys on my team, and we would travel to different ballparks. The different comments would be made about, you know, 'There's the one black guy,' or 'He must be the fast guy' or all these different things and different nicknames," he told Boomer and Carton. "It's one of those things that you knew was out there. You didn't expect to hear it consistently, and when (you) did, you glanced for a quick second and you went back to continue to play baseball."
Granderson showed up in the Yankees clubhouse before Sunday night's game against the Baltimore Orioles. He did his rehabilitation regimen in the Bronx rather than in Tampa, Fla., where he's been working to return since he was hit by a pitch in his first spring training at-bat.
"Once the throwing is good to go, then we'll start swinging," Granderson told reporters. "I'm just here for the day."
Granderson can't put a date on his return and says he needs to get fully comfortable throwing before he can start swinging a bat. And after that, he says he'll need "50-70 at-bats" before he's ready to rejoin the Yankees.
In the meantime, he is able to join sponsors and the producers of "42" in taking students from Abraham Lincoln High School, in Brooklyn's coastal Coney Island neighborhood to a screening of the movie on the 66th anniversary of the day Robinson broke major league baseball's color barrier.
"I'll travel back to Tampa and go to work on Tuesday," he said.
Have you seen "42"? Tell us about it in the comments...
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