WICHITA, Kan. — A reconstructed bronze statue of Jackie Robinson will be welcomed home Monday by Little League players and former Major League Baseball All-Stars, just over six months after the original was destroyed by thieves.
The original sculpture of the baseball icon resting a bat on his shoulder was cut away at the ankles in January, leaving only Robinson’s cleats behind at McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas.
An identical statue will return to the park, where about 600 children play in the urban youth baseball league called League 42, founded in 2013 and named after Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers uniform number. Playing for the Dodgers, Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s racial barrier in 1947.
The community is expected to be joined on Monday by representatives from Major League Baseball and former players, including All-Stars CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, according to League 42 social media posts.
The nonprofit received an outpouring of support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after news of the stolen statue shocked the community and spread across the country. Bob Lutz, executive director of League 42, said this year that donations helped fund the replacement statue, as well as improvements to the plaza where it stands, the nonprofit’s facilities and its programming.
The reconstructed statue is identical to the original because the mold was still viable. Dedicated in 2021, it was created by artist John Parsons, a friend of Lutz, before he passed away in 2022.
Firefighters found burned remains of the original statue five days ago after it disappeared. A man pleaded guilty and will spend around 15 years in prison, although most of that time will be related to a robbery that occurred a few days after the statue theft.
Ricky Alderete was sentenced Friday to 18 months and ordered to pay $41,500 restitution for stealing the statue, an act he said resulted from his addiction to fentanyl.
O solitary cleats of the original found a new home at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, this year.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for generations of black American players. He is not only a sporting legend, but also a civil rights icon. Robinson died in 1972.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
