(AP) Yank condemns defaced Jackie Robinson statue
NEW YORK
New York Yankees closing pitcher Mariano Rivera has condemned the defacing of a statue of Jackie Robinson outside a minor league baseball stadium in Brooklyn. Rivera is the last baseball player who will ever wear Jackie Robinson’s No. 42.
The reliever told the Daily News ( http://nydn.us/16JGv2v) Sunday he hopes police find whoever scrawled the words “Heil Hitler,” an expletive and racist epithets in black marker. Rivera, who wears a No. 42 jersey as Robinson did, said the vandalism was disrespectful and unacceptable.
The swastikas and hate speech were discovered Wednesday. On Thursday, the Parks Department removed them from the statue.
But police have not arrested anyone in connection with the defacement and are still investigating.
The Jackie Robinson Foundation is offering $40,000 and the Daily News has offered $10,000 to anyone with information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.
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