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Ken Burns sets out to humanize baseball legend Jackie Robinson in his two-part, 4-hour PBS documentary — and, in doing so, lionizes him.
"I think, for really too long, Jackie Robinson has been a kind of mythological figure," Burns. "He's sort of encrusted with the barnacles of sentimentality and nostalgia."
Burns — along with his daughter, Sarah, and son-in-law, David McMahon ("Central Park Five") — crafted the documentary starting Monday that looks past the legend at a man who nonetheless proves legendary. Titled simply "Jackie Robinson," it provides "a complex portrait of a complex man who deserves to be a legend," Burns said. "A man who did more than just integrate Major League Baseball — he helped change America."
The documentary was made with the cooperation and at the urging of Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, who remains an indomitable force at 93. When she approached Burns, he begged off because he was working on several other projects, but she finally persuaded him.
"Our film stars Rachel Robinson as herself," Burns said. "And that's the best thing, I think, about the film — that we have this extraordinary person helping us tell the story."
(Robinson did not have any editorial control, however. She didn't see the documentary until it was finished.)
This is a story of a baseball player, but it's not a baseball story. It's a narrative of a black man who endured horrific, racist abuse and helped change a nation.
"Before Martin Luther King was out of college, before there was Brown vs. Board of Education, before there was Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, before there was lunch-counter stuff, before the military was integrated, there was Jack Roosevelt Robinson, the grandson of a slave, making the statement in the largest and most popular sport," Burns said.
It wasn't just fans and even the Philadelphia manager hurling racist taunts at him — which you hear a lot in this documentary — it was other players spiking the Brooklyn first baseman because he was black. It was death threats.
And it wasn't just when Robinson was playing baseball. It happened when he was in college at UCLA. When he was in the Army. When he was growing up in Pasadena, Calif.
"There were crosses burned on the yard," Burns said. "The neighbors called the police whenever Jackie roller skated and his brothers and sister roller skated."
Perhaps the biggest myth that "Jackie Robinson" busts is that its subject had the patience of a saint — that he was chosen by the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager as the man to break baseball's color barrier because of a calm demeanor. The documentary doesn't shy away from multiple examples of Robinson losing his temper.
"When he had to do what Mr. Rickey asked him to do and be silent in the face of challenges, it was very hard on him," Rachel Robinson said. "And I worried about it having an effect on his health."
She believes the stress of that experience helped shorten Robinson's life. (He died of a heart attack in 1972 at age 53.)
"It's an amazing story of forbearance and affirmation in the face of adversity," Burns said. "This is a great story in American history and in world history. It certainly transcends sports … but I think it transcends even American history for the profundity of his actions — not just in holding it in, but also, once he was free, to dedicating every moment, every day to making the lives of others different."
The documentary goes beyond Robinson's retirement from baseball in 1956 to his controversial work on frontlines of the Civil Rights movement. And his story has resonance today.
"Many of the things that Jackie experiences — driving while black, stop and frisk, cops hassling him, Confederate flag issues — all of them repeat themselves in our current life," Burns said. "So it makes it incredibly topical."
The documentary is also the story of the romance between Jackie and Rachel Robinson, who shared her husband's trials and triumphs.
"It wasn't just Jackie Robinson," said his widow. "It was the whole idea of equality in America and equal opportunities for people. And we were fighting for something bigger than any one of us, and something that's so important for not just this generation.
"I've got 15 grandchildren. I'm thinking about the next generations, and what kind of world are we creating for them?"
Retelling Jackie Robinson's story "is very important to me," said Rachel Robinson, who appears frequently on camera to talk about their experiences.
The documentary airs nationally just days before April 15 — MLB's designated Jackie Robinson Day. In 1997, his uniform number, 42, was retired across baseball — the first time any pro athlete received that honor. (The last player to wear the number was the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, who retired in 2013.)
Since 2004, all MLB players wear 42 on April 15.
Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility — based entirely on his on-field performance,. But his stature rises far above just his baseball persona.
"Without a doubt, the most important person in the history of baseball is Jackie Robinson," Burns said.
Twitter: @ScottDPierce —
On TV
Part 1 of PBS' two-part, 4-hour documentary "Jackie Robinson" airs Monday, April 11, at 8 and 10 p.m. on KUED-Ch. 7. Part 2 airs Tuesday, April 12, at 8 and 10 p.m.