MLB wears No. 42
Major League Baseball observed Jackie Robinson Day with every player, coach and umpire wearing No. 42 to mark the 79th anniversary of Robinson’s debut on April 15, 1947. ( )
Every player, coach and umpire in Major League Baseball wore No. 42 on April 15 as the sport marked 79 years since Jackie Robinson’s first game in 1947. (mlb.com) The annual observance fell on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the anniversary of Robinson’s debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, when he broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. (mlb.com) Major League Baseball said all on-field personnel wore Robinson’s number in Dodger Blue, along with royal blue “42” socks, as part of the league’s Jackie Robinson Day program. (mlb.com) The ceremony is now a fixed date on the baseball calendar, but it started later than Robinson’s debut: Major League Baseball established Jackie Robinson Day in 2004. (mlb.com) The uniform tribute came in stages. Baseball retired No. 42 across the majors in 1997, then Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. asked to wear it on Jackie Robinson Day in 2007, and the practice expanded to all players and on-field personnel by 2009. (baseballhall.org, mlb.com) Robinson’s April 15, 1947 debut with Brooklyn ended a 63-year exclusion of Black players in the major leagues and turned him into one of the central figures in American sports and civil rights history. (mlb.com) This year’s league plans also included Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars at games, “Breaking Barriers” shirts during batting practice, commemorative lineup cards and base jewels, and scoreboard videos shown in ballparks. (mlb.com, mlb.com) The visual point of the day was simple and league-wide: on one date each season, every uniform on every field carries the same number Robinson made permanent. (mlb.com, baseballhall.org)
