The approach of spring training for the 2012 Atlanta Brave is stirring the city's passion for baseball. Fans are abuzz about changes in the roster and are getting restless as they await the call of "play ball" at Turner Field.
Yet few of those baseball fans probably are aware of our state's connection to hall of fame second baseman Jackie Robinson. In fact, his roots go back to long before he broke the major league color barrier by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. That historic connection can be found a short road trip away in South Georgia.
IN THE BEGINNING
Robinson's early years are usually associated with California where he attended high school before entering UCLA. But the baseball legend had his roots in Georgia, not far south of the town of Cairo in Grady County.
On January 31, 1919, Robinson was born in a small house not far from the sluggish, tannic flow of the Ochlockonee River. However, the future baseball great spent only his first year in the Peach State. In 1920 the family headed west to California.
DECADES OF NEGLECT
For almost eight decades the Robinson home place garnered no attention, only recognized by those steeped deeply in the history of southwest Georgia. Then in 1996 the structure caught fire and burned to the ground, leaving only a chimney standing like a gravestone.
A DELAYED TRIBUTE
Finally, in 2002 the Georgia Historical Society erected a historic marker on the shoulder of the road near the stone chimney. To visit the site requires a road trip down to Cairo, then turning south on Hadley Ferry Road (Grady County Road 154). After several miles the road crosses the river. The historic marker shortly appears on the right side of the highway.
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