Museum honouring baseball legend Jackie Robinson opens after 14 years of planning

Robinson, who died in 1972, had an impact beyond baseball, galvanising a significant slice of American public opinion and boosting the civil rights movement.

A Jackie Robinson 1955 World Championship ring on display in New York

LONG dreamed about and in development for longer than the big league career of the man it honours, the Jackie Robinson Museum opened in New York this week with a gala ceremony attended by the widow of the barrier-breaking ballplayer and two of his children.

Rachel Robinson, who turned 100 on July 19, watched the half-hour outdoor celebration from a wheelchair in the 80-degree Fahrenheit (27-degree Celsius) heat, then cut a ribbon to cap a project launched in 2008.