A stolen statue of baseball legend Jackie Robinson has been found, but the discovery is not good news.
The statue stolen last week from McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, was found dismantled and burned in a trash can fire Tuesday morning
“Around 8:38 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the Wichita Fire Department responded to a report of a trash can fire at Garvey Park, according to Wichita police spokesperson Andrew Ford. After extinguishing the fire, they found what appeared to be pieces of the Robinson statue,” ABC News reported.
Ford said during a press briefing that the pieces found are “not salvageable at this time.”
A statue of baseball legend Jackie Robinson was stolen from a park in Wichita, Kansas and found dismantled and burned in a trash can fire in what authorities have called a “disgraceful” act. pic.twitter.com/Fo7KkxGL4h
— ABC News (@ABC) January 30, 2024
Police are investigating the theft and have reportedly recovered the truck they believe was used in the heist.
“It’s really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue, the disgraceful way it’s been disrespected,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said. “This is a direct indication of the pressure our investigators are putting on the perpetrators that committed this act.”
After urging those involved to turn themselves in, Sullivan added, “Either way, we will be arresting several people for what they’ve done to our community.”
Robinson is a historically significant figure who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947. He became the first black man to play in the majors when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers while wearing a 42 jersey.
The brazen theft was caught on surveillance video, with two men seen absconding with the statue which they sawed off at the ankles.
McAdams Park is the home of League 42, a local youth baseball league which launched a GoFundMe account to replace the statue. The campaign has raised just over $92,000 toward a goal of $150,o00.
https://t.co/U8rKz6bMn6
Great organization @League42ICT wants to replace the statue.— michael arst (@RCJHMike) January 30, 2024
“League 42 tries to embody the spirit of Jackie Robinson, our namesake. In 2021, we erected a lifesize statue of Jackie at our baseball complex inside McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas. Recently, that statue was cut off just above Jackie’s shoe tops and stolen from its rightful place,” executive director Bob Lutz said in a statement.
“As law enforcement searches for the statue and the culprits of this crime, we remain devoted to our mission of providing low-cost baseball and education opportunities for our 600 kids, ages 5-14,” Lutz continued. “They are as heartbroken over this theft as any of us and we are determined to either repair the original sculpture or create a new one.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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