‘Baseball was their glue’: Jackie Robinson’s deep bond with LA’s Japanese Americans

The baseball hero grew up in Pasadena in an era of restrictive housing covenants – firm friendships were forged

Everyone from Jackie Robinson’s home town has a story about the baseball legend. Stick around long enough in his southern California neighborhood and Jackie’s name will bubble up in a story about a distant relative who once struck out the future Hall of Famer on a dusty field that now bears his name. Over the years, these stories gather layers – part memory, part myth – until they sound like hometown folklore.

George Ito was one of those storytellers. A second-generation Japanese American who grew up in Pasadena, California, a few doors down from the Robinson family, George loved to remind his children about his friendship with Jackie. On jogs with his son, Steven Ito, he would rattle off tales of all the times he outran his legendary friend.