Mystic Native Was Key Figure In Jackie Robinson Story

Mystic native Sam Lacy, who was a leader in the media push in the 1940s to integrate baseball and is enshrined in both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Writers' Association of America, was a key player in the Jackie Robinson story.

But critics of the film say he was left out of the movie.

Jake Oliver, publisher of AFRO.com and Lacy’s son, Tim, are upset that Lacy's role was not shown in the film. Tim Lacy called the omission “a travesty.”  You can read the full story on AFRO.com.

Lacy was born on Oct. 23, 1903 in Mystic but he spent most of his career in Washington, D.C., his home until his death at age 99 in 2003. He published his autobiography in 1998, "Fighting for Fairness.”

"In the mid-1930s, black sportswriters kept tabs on what was going on in their own communities and in national sports involving blacks; at the same time, we tried to keep the heat on that period's racial segregation in sports," recalled Lacy, who made repeated unsuccessful attempts to meet with baseball commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis.