The remaining pieces of a vandalized Jackie Robinson statue were given to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City on Thursday. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum accepted the bronze cleats that were part of a Robinson statue that once stood at McAdams Park in Wichita.
Those cleats are being added to a Robinson exhibit at the museum.
The cleats, the only remaining remnants from the Jackie Robinson statue stolen from McAdams Park in Wichita & destroyed, are officially home at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum!@nlbmprez joins League 42 founder & Exec. Director, @boblutz.
— Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (@NLBMuseumKC) April 11, 2024
The museum will display the remnants… https://t.co/rJlB8p6Bbi pic.twitter.com/Khpf3rzMgJ
The statue was built outside of the League 42 youth baseball fields in Wichita, but was stolen and destroyed back in January. Pieces of the statue were found burnt in nearby Garvey Park shortly following the theft, according to KAKE.
The feet of the Robinson statue were still at McAdams Park after the theft took place.
In February, a probable cause affidavit showed the investigation that led Wichita police to arrest Ricky Angel Alderte, 45, after the statue was stolen. KWCH reported that surveillance video showed a truck pulling down the statue, and thieves loaded it into the bed of that very truck.
Just days after the statue was found destroyed, over $140,000 in donations poured in to aid in rebuilding the iconic statue. An online fundraiser was started with a goal $75,000 to help rebuild the statue that honors Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.
Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers after previously starring for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues. Now the remaining pieces of the statue will have a permanent home in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
