New Jackie Robinson statue unveiled in Wichita

Organizers of a youth baseball league in Wichita, Kansas, unveiled a new Jackie Robinson statue Monday evening, replacing the original that was stolen from one of the city’s parks and vandalized earlier this year.

“It’s been a long six months,” said Bob Lutz, executive director of League 42, which is named after the Brooklyn Dodgers legend and civil rights hero.

“And this is where we wanted it to get to. We feel like we, and so many others, have helped make the best of a terrible situation. And we hope to move forward with much more comfort now that we know we have this statue in place.”

The new statue was returned to McAdams Park, where League 42 plays its games.

There were about 300 people in attendance, including former MLB players CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances, Jeremy Guthrie and Mike Pelfrey. Tony Reagins, MLB’s chief baseball development officer, also was in attendance. Three members of the Kansas City Royals‘ front office were on hand, as well. Sabathia and Reagins both spoke to the gathered crowd.

Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, local councilmember Brandon Johnson and Carol Parsons, wife of the late John Parsons, the sculptor of the original statue, also spoke.

MLB paid for the statue’s replacement.

Art Castings of Colorado, an art foundry situated 50 miles outside of Denver, used the original mold created by Parsons — who died in 2022 — to recreate the statue.

Several of League 42’s 600 players — two-thirds of whom are Black and Latino — were on hand, including 8-year-old Marcus Jones, who volunteered to speak.

“Jackie Robinson is a spark for the whole league,” he said in his speech.

After using surveillance video, police said at least three people were present when the original statue was cut and removed just after midnight on Jan. 25. Parts of the statue were later found, charred from a fire, in another park seven miles away. The bronze replicas of Robinson’s cleats were left behind when the statue was cut. The cleats were donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Ricky Alderete, 45, was arrested after the statue went missing. He pleaded guilty to theft and other charges in May and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for multiple cases on Friday. No other arrests have been made.

Two weeks before Alderete was sentenced, Lutz visited with Alderete at Kansas’ Sedgwick County Courthouse with a mediator and a representative from the public defender’s office present. Lutz, a retired sports journalist, said he was interested in Alderete’s motivation for the theft, and Alderete told Lutz that he hasn’t been able to get a longtime drug problem under control.

“It’s hard to know,” Lutz said when asked if Alderete was remorseful. “I don’t want to be played. But I also don’t want to be so cynical that I don’t think there’s any chance. So, I believe only Ricky knows. And he’ll be able to prove it one way or another over the next several years.”