Born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919, Jackie Robinson was the youngest of 5 children. In 1935, Robinson graduated from Washington Junior High School and enrolled at John Muir High School (Muir Tech), where he excelled in Basketball, Baseball, track and football. In 1939, while at UCLA, Robinson became the school’s first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track. Baseball was considered his “worst sport” at UCLA, where he hit .097 in his only season.

After a short stint in the military, Robinson (in 1945) received  a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs. Robinson played 47 games at shortstop for the Monarchs, hitting .387 with five home runs, and registering 13 stolen bases. He also appeared in the 1945 Negro League All-Star Game.

After being scouted and interviewed by club president and General Manager Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers, it was publicly announced (on October 23, 1945) that Robinson would be assigned to the Montreal Royals (farm league) for the 1946 season. The following year, six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Robinson became the first player since the 1880’s to openly break the major league baseball color line. Black fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro league teams. Robinson’s major league debut brought an end to approximately sixty years of segregation in professional baseball, known as the baseball color line.

Beginning his major league career at the relatively advanced age of twenty-eight, he played only ten seasons, all of them for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career, the Dodgers played in six World Series, and Robinson himself played in six All-Star Games. In 1999, he was posthumously named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. On October 24, 1972, he died of a heart attack at home in Stamford, Connecticut, aged fifty-three

On April 15, 1997, Robinson’s jersey number, 42, was retired by Major League Baseball; no future player on any major league team can wear it. As an exception to the retired-number policy, MLB has recently begun honoring Robinson by allowing players to wear number 42 on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day.

Jackie Robinson Memorial

Jackie Robinson-Negro Leagues

PAK HEADWEAR is sponsoring a giveaway of both Negro League caps featured on its site, each valued at $35, via a “SoJones Forum Comments Lottery”. Every SoJones forum post dated August 8 to August 22 counts as a “lottery entry”. Go to http://www.sojones.com/forums/ for more information. The tribute is a follow-up from Sojones and their exclusive interview (6/04/09) with PAK HEADWEAR’s Founder/Designer, Philip Taylor.

As the founder, it gives me great pleasure taking part in preserving the heritage of the Negro Leagues. Sojones takes an in-depth cruise through the history of both the Kansas City Monarchs and the New York Black Yankees.

As a start-up apparel company, you must be concise in your decisions involving the “initial” bulk of inventory. The two markets (KC and NY) have an incredible following amongst its population in areas of sports, music and fashion. Our goal is to introduce these markets, amongst others, to the roots of African-American baseball, whilst infusing contemporary creativity and uniqueness. We are in the works of expanding our selection of Negro League baseball kaps.

Take a moment to support both PAK and Negro League Baseball by posting in the forums section, giving you a chance to win an authentic PAK KAP. DEADLINE is August 22, 2009. A winner will be selected on August 23, 2009. Stay tuned!

NOTABLE NEGRO LEAGUE PLAYERS

NY BLACK YANKEES; Clint Thomas, Fats Jenkins, DeWitt “Woody” Smallwood, Barney Brown, “Crush” Holloway and the powerful George “Mule” Suttles”.

KC MONARCHS; Cool Papa Bell, Turkey Stearnes, Newt Allen, Jesse Williams, Bonnie Serrell, Wilber Rogan, and a fellow they called Skip, Buck O’Neil.

23 Steps To Pak-Fection

Pak Designers – 3 steps
We design the Kap for you, the consumer, with style, elegance, and perfection in mind. Other steps include the design of both the protruding logo and the Pak display box.

Engineers – 1 step
Our engineers responsibility is to determine the curvature dimensions of each and every protruding, suspended application, relative to our unique flat-brim baseball Kap.

Cad Designers – 1 step
The cad designers are responsible for converting the protruding 2d designs, using the engineers dimensions, into a three-dimensional cad program. These files will be then sent to our plastic manufacturer for tooling.

Plastic Manufacturer – 1 step
The mold process takes up to 45 days as state of the art, transparent molds are created to perfection.

Headwear Manufacturer – 14 steps
This style of  Kap was specifically designed for Pak’s unique concept. The Kap itself offers a wide brim and a high-upright sturdy crown, yielding a more relaxed-fashionable fit. The process for each Kap entails 12 remarkable stitching and sewing steps. Steps 13 & 14 are accompanied manually as skilled workers direct their attention to the “bonding” and “riveting” phases of the suspended application, to the front of each and every Kap.

Corrugated Box Manufacturer – 1 step
Our unique display box is created with elegance in mind. Each pak box is designed with transparent windows, making the product viewable for the shopping consumer. The box will assist in preserving your fashionable Pak Kap.

Pak Inspection Team – 1 step
An inspection team has been assembled to ensure the quality control of each and every Pak Kap. They are responsible for double checking the quality consistency of products delivered to our Atlanta-based distribution facility.

Distribution Facility – 1 step
After the boxes are assembled and tagged, with the addition of your new Pak Kap, they will be shipped and delivered within days. You will soon be part of our monumental Pak movement.

“It Takes a Total of 23-Steps in Reaching Pak-Fection”

3/14/09
MEDIA CONTACT INFORMATION:

Marques Burnette
mcb@pakheadwear.com
www.pakheadwear.com
888-424-3933 x7
PAK HEADWEAR “Raises The Game” With Launch of Authentic, Sports Licensed Baseball Caps
Innovative headwear with protruding logo now available via e-commerce and retail

Highlights\Key Facts:

• The Atlanta-based corporation has created a line of baseball kaps with a look and feel like no other in the headwear industry
• PAK HEADWEAR has just launched its e-commerce site – making its authentic line of baseball kaps available on the world wide web
• Each PAK kap features a stylish flat-brim appearance, made of 100% wool
• All PAK kaps are sold in a unique, state of the art, display box
• The kaps will also be available in select retail outlets – visit www.pakheadwear.com for a list of current vendors and additional updates

Key Quote:
“Purchasing a kap from PAK Headwear can now be done with the click of a mouse – that added convenience will allow us to do a better job of getting our authentic kaps to customers worldwide.”

Philip Taylor, CEO

Links:

• www.pakheadwear.com