The widow of Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson, says she doubts whether her famed husband would have protested during the playing of the national anthem, but she can’t say for sure.
TMZ’s cameras caught Rachel Robinson as she was being wheeled in her wheelchair through L.A.’s airport. She was asked if she thought the man famous for breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947, would have joined Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests.
“I have no idea, but I doubt it,” Rachel Robinson said when asked if Jackie would take a knee during the anthem.
“I think so, I don’t know,” she replied when pressed on whether he would have stood in respect for the nation. Rachel Robinson said that she thinks today’s generation is different.
Still, the wife of the civil right’s icon said it wasn’t exactly fair for her to speak for her husband who has been gone for so long.
Rachel Robinson was in town to join her family to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday.
The L.A. Dodgers took Game 1 over the Houston Astros, 3-1.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.