ESPN’s Jeff Passan Confirms Jackie Robinson Story Restored by Defense Department After Deletion

There’s good news. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirms that the Jackie Robinson story has officially been restored by the Defense Department after its recent deletion. For baseball fans all around the world who love learning and appreciating historical details; this is a wonderful development because Robinson is one of the greatest American baseball players to ever step foot on a diamond.

Actually, Jackie Robinson is just one of the best athletes in general ever. He was so good at baseball that oftentimes people tend to forget he excelled at tennis, basketball, track, and yes… even football. Robinson was born in Georgia but had grown up in Pasadena; moreover, he played on the most integrated team in college football as a member of the 1939 UCLA Bruins’ football team.

One of our favorite fun facts in this regard about Jackie; is that he was an All-American football player who set the UCLA record for yards per carry in a season (1939) at 12.2 yards per attempt on 42 carries. He also led THE ENTIRE COUNTRY in punt return average in 1939 and 1940. No wonder he earned himself a scholarship to UCLA playing 4 sports. Very special athlete.

So to get an idea of what he was like… maybe an early Bo Jackson anyone? But honestly, it’s truly hard to compare Jackie to anyone. He was one of a kind. A treasure on and off the field.

Jackie Robinson Department of Defense Page

Besides being an iconic sports figure, another well known fact is that Robinson was also a military man. Which is why Jackie had a DOD page discussing his military service. Robinson was drafted into the military five years before breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947. If you go five years back in history, you probably can surmise what war he served during.

Nevertheless, the DOD didn’t leave anyone to wonder. It fully reveals Robinson’s military service during World War II, when he served in the 761st “Black Panthers” tank battalion. Very nice tidbits to know about such a selfless individual as well as an awesome player.

However, this very important page was scrubbed and deleted as reported originally by ESPN. Jeff Passan this week pointed out this issue while including a link to the suddenly missing historical page. Furthermore, he mentions,

“This used to be the URL for a story on the Department of Defense website about Jackie Robinson’s time in the Army. The story has been removed. The ghouls who did this should be ashamed. Jackie Robinson was the embodiment of an American hero. Fix this now.”

Hours later, ESPN reported that they were given a response. Although the page was still gone and the original URL had been changed in a way to suggest it no longer confirms to new department rules and procedures. ESPN says when they asked about the missing Jackie page and URL change Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot told them,

“As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed – either deliberately or by mistake – that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content accordingly.”

Interestingly, literally moments later. Like minutes later. ESPN says that they received an updated statement from Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot on the removal of the story on its website about Jackie Robinson’s military service. It reads:

“Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others – we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop. We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex.

We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like [every] other American who has worn the uniform.

DEI – Discriminatory Equity Ideology does the opposite. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission.

We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed – either deliberately or by mistake – that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period.”

After posting this updated statement, Jeff Passan noticed there was still one problem at the time of the message. The page was still missing. But fortunately, that would not be the case for much longer.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan Confirms Jackie Robinson Story Restored by Defense Department After Deletion

Couple hours later Jeff Passan once more reports, “The Department of Defense story on Jackie Robinson has been restored to its original URL. No longer does it redirect to one with the letters “dei” in it.” So then, everything was back to how it was before. The original page and original URL.

Nevertheless, during the timeframe while the page was gone from the internet. Passan took a moment to share some military history about Jackie Robinson. He writes,

“Since the story on the Department of Defense’s website on Jackie Robinson has been deleted, here are the details of his service in the United States military. In 1942, Robinson was drafted and reported to Fort Riley, Kansas. By early 1943, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant before joining the 761st tank battalion, also known as the Black Panthers.

A year later, after Robinson boarded an Army bus, the driver asked him to retreat to the back. Robinson refused — more than a decade before Rosa Parks. Robinson was court martialed and later acquitted. He spent the rest of his military service at Camp Breckinridge, where he coached Army athletics teams. Robinson was honorably discharged in November 1944.”

But if you ever forget the above details, the good thing is, the page is back. Also, if you would like to learn some other awesome historical details about American baseball players like Jackie Robinson. Take Jeff Passan up on his final suggestion.

He says, “Now is as good a time as any to remind everyone that the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City (Find their page on X: @NLBMuseumKC) exists to tell a deeply important American story — one that is ultimately about triumph. Our history, good and bad, is all we have. Learning it is our duty.”

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