CHICAGO (WLS) — When the Chicago White Sox take the field on Tuesday, they will all be wearing number 42 for Jackie Robinson Day.
High school players from Amateur City Elite, sponsored by the White Sox, will be joining the event. For these players, Jackie Robinson holds an even deeper significance.
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Micah Johnson, who previously played as a second baseman for the White Sox and is now a successful artist, serves as an inspiring role model for the students in the White Sox ACE program. This program is designed for high school student-athletes in the Chicago area.
“My whole platform is about empowering kids to chase their dreams. And the White Sox allowed me to chase mine,” Johnson said.
A year ago, Johnson helped students design a t-shirt for Juneteenth. This year, he is helping design a patch they will wear on their uniforms.
Josiah Patterson from the ACE Program mentioned that they will be meeting with many students the next day during the event. Micah Johnson will share insights about his career, including his failures, making the experience truly impactful for the young athletes.
Johnson says it is important to talk about not only his successes, but failures in life. His words carry a lot of weight.
“Him being a professional artist now, a former baseball player, that made that experience great for them, because they identify with him,” said ACE Director Troy Williams.
Williams says Johnson was a great baseball player, but his work giving back in the community is having a greater impact. Johnson will meet with a group of players before Tuesday’s Sox game to talk about the patch they are designing.
For his part, Johnson says taking part in Jackie Robinson Day with the team that drafted him as a young baseball player is special. And it helps him to spread the lesson, he says, he learned from Jackie Robinson to younger generations: That anything is possible.
“The likelihood of Jackie Robinson playing Major League Baseball at that time did not seem real. But it ended up happening. If that can happen, anything can happen,” Johnson said.
Johnson plans to watch the game with many of the kids and plans to share his experiences both in the baseball and art worlds.
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