MLB, Teams to Replace Destroyed Jackie Robinson Statue Stolen from Baseball Center

There will be another Jackie Robinson at the front of McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, thanks to Major League Baseball and its 30 teams.

As Brian Murphy of MLB.com noted, the original statue—which was put up in 2021—was stolen from the home of local youth baseball league League 42.

Yet Bob Lutz, who is the executive director of the league that is named for the number Robinson wore as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, revealed MLB and its teams will pay for a replacement that will be built using the original mold:

"During this emotional week, we are proud to report some great news," Lutz wrote.

MLB will also provide additional funding for League 42 after the theft of the statue became headline news.

This comes after online fundraisers generated more than $140,000 to replace the statue, per the Associated Press. An anonymous former MLB player donated $10,000.

Murphy noted the Wichita Fire Department found remnants of the statue after responding to a trash can fire with spokesperson Andrew Ford describing it as "not salvageable." Surveillance video captured two thieves stealing the statue by cutting it at the ankles and loading it into a pickup truck.

"I'm frustrated by the actions of those individuals who had the audacity to take the statue of Jackie Robinson from a park where kids and families in our community gather to learn the history of Jackie Robinson, an American icon, and play the game of baseball," Wichita police chief Joe Sullivan told reporters.

"This should upset all of us."

According to the Associated Press, the Wichita Metro Crime Commission offered a $2,500 reward for any tips that lead to arrests.

League 42 is a youth baseball league for children from the ages of five to 14 that was founded in 2013. It consists of 46 teams that provide the opportunity for more than 600 children to play baseball.