Third Triennial Jackie Robinson Museum Report

In 2013, my friend Kate Briquelet wrote a story for the New York Post that didn't bury the lede.

"A TriBeCa museum dedicated to Jackie Robinson is three years overdue — and may never open despite spending a fortune on rent. The Jackie Robinson Foundation has raised only a fraction of the $42 million it says is needed to honor the Brooklyn Dodger who shattered Major League Baseball’s color barrier."

Three years later, I posted Million Dollar Questions, in which I concluded, "It seems little has changed."

Another three years have passed and as the Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) kicks off its year-long centennial celebration of its namesake, there appears to be good news.

According to the Associated Press (via the Brooklyn Daily Eagle),

"Della Britton Baeza, CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, said $28 million has been raised toward ... construction costs, and an additional $4 million is needed for marketing and staff. The overall goal [of $42 million] includes $10 million for an endowment, she said."

As both the JRF press release and AP story report, the museum plans to open in December.

Unmentioned in either source, however, is the fact that the foundation is already 12 years into its 20 year lease with Trinity Real Estate. Perhaps the real estate arm of Trinity Church in New York City will look charitably upon a tenant with powerful story to tell.

In the meantime, JRF and The Museum of the City of New York are co-presenting In the Dugout with Jackie Robinson; An Intimate Portrait of a Baseball Legend (through September 15), a preview of the museum that will be nine years overdue when (if?) it opens later this year.