Jackie Robinson Day

Today is the annual celebration of Jackie Robinson, the Hall of Fame player who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947. As part of this tradition, the number 42, which was retired by all teams in 1997, can be worn by any player, coach, or manager at the major league level. Mariano Rivera remains the only player to still wear the number full-time.

Last year the Dodgers celebrated the 60th anniversary of Robinson's debut by having the entire squad wear #42. This year they will be joined by the Angels, Mets, A's, Pirates, Rangers, Rays, Nationals, and Cardinals.

But not every player is happy about how baseball honors Robinson. Angels outfielder Torii Hunter feels that having so many players wearing #42 actually dilutes the significance of Robinson's achievement.

"When you have a team that doesn't have any African American players on the team, and then everybody on the team wears it, yes, it's watered down, because they don't have blacks to represent Jackie Robinson over there," Hunter said.

"It's pretty weird. That's just my opinion."

Hunter also felt it was absurd for the Houston Astros, a team with no white players, to have the entire team wear 42. Hunter was ridiculously labeled a racist for those remarks, when his intentions were really to know why the Astros had no black players (this year's Colorado Rockies squad has no black players either).

We have mixed feelings on the subject. While it's a great tribute is there anything meaningful about a white player wearing #42? But we agree with LA Times columnist Bill Shaikin that commemorating the feat helps educate those who did not know much about Robinson or his legacy.

Here's the complete list of those wearing 42 today.

Team	Player
Arizona Diamondbacks	Eric Byrnes
	Orlando Hudson
	Lee Tinsley
	Justin Upton
	Chris Young
Atlanta Braves	Mark Kotsay
Baltimore Orioles	Adam Jones
Boston Red Sox	Coco Crisp
	DeMarlo Hale
	David Ortiz
Chicago Cubs	Derrek Lee
	Gerald Perry
	Lester Strode
	Daryle Ward
Chicago White Sox	Harold Baines
	Jeff Cox
	Jermaine Dye
	Ozzie Guillen
	Nick Swisher
	Jim Thome
Cincinnati Reds	Dusty Baker
	Ken Griffey Jr.
Cleveland Indians	C.C. Sabathia
	Grady Sizemore
Colorado Rockies	Matt Herges
	Willy Taveras
	Yorvit Torrealba
Detroit Tigers	Curtis Granderson
	Jacque Jones
	Lloyd McClendon
	Gary Sheffield
	Dontrelle Willis
Florida Marlins	Bo Porter
Houston Astros	Michael Bourn
	Cecil Cooper
Kansas City Royals	Joey Gathright
	Jose Guillen
	Trey Hillman
	Luis Silverio
Los Angeles Angels	Entire team
Los Angeles Dodgers	Entire team
Milwaukee Brewers	Prince Fielder
Minnesota Twins	Matt Guerrier
	Livan Hernandez
	Craig Monroe
	Denard Span
	Jerry White
	Delmon Young
New York Mets	Entire team
New York Yankees	Robinson Cano
	Joe Girardi
	Derek Jeter
	*Mariano Rivera
Oakland Athletics	Entire team
Philadelphia Phillies	Jimmy Rollins
Pittsburgh Pirates	Entire team
San Diego Padres	Tony Clark
	Callix Crabbe
	Scott Hairston
San Francisco Giants	Ray Durham
Seattle Mariners	Miguel Batista
	Adrian Beltre
	Yuniesky Betancourt
	Mike Morse
St. Louis Cardinals	Entire team
Tampa Bay Rays	Entire team
Texas Rangers	Entire team
Toronto Blue Jays	Shannon Stewart
	Frank Thomas
	Vernon Wells
Washington Nationals	Entire team

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