Texas Rangers: CJ Nitkowski selfishly made Jackie Robinson Day about himself

Jackie Robinson Day is one of baseball’s most esteemed traditions. This day celebrates the life and legacy of a trailblazer, an icon and one of the true pioneers of baseball and American history.

Texas Rangers‘ TV color commentator and former big league pitcher CJ Nitkowski, though, had other ideas for observing this annual baseball day of remembrance and reflection.

During the broadcast of the Texas Rangers-Tampa Bay Rays series finale game Thursday in Tampa, play-by-play man Dave Raymond and Nitkowski were having a conversation in the booth about Robinson (of course) and the movie “42”, starring the late Chadwick Boseman as Jackie, which was released in 2013.

You wouldn’t have known it was conversation about Robinson from listening to Nitkowski’s remarks, though, and Twitter made sure to voice its displeasure.

Texas Rangers’ TV color commentator CJ Nitkowski made Jackie Robinson Day about himself.

Yeah, you guessed it, CJ Nitkowski was focused more on ensuring that he receive proper recognition for his role as Dutch Leonard in the film, the bigoted Philly pitcher on the mound when Jackie Robinson played his first game in the City of Brotherly Love.

Congratulations, CJ, you’re apparently a big-time movie star now.

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But did you really need to toot your own horn about starring as a relatively minor character in “42” on Jackie Robinson Day?

It’s Jackie Robinson Day, not CJ Nitkowski Day.

Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be observing a CJ Nitkowski Day, on which he can do all the bragging he desires. That’s not currently the case, though.

This kind of conceitedness and selfishness are precisely the values that go against everything that Jackie stood for on and off the baseball diamond. To act this way on Jackie’s day is nothing short of shameful and ignorant on the former big league pitcher’s part, not to mention that those comments just make the Texas Rangers look bad.

Nitkowski’s comments are something of a tradition themselves, since he’s made similar “42” references on past Jackie Robinson Days.

It’s a tired act, CJ. There’s a time and a place to tout your acting chops. Jackie Robinson Day just isn’t one of them.