Park Removes Police Chief's Name for Forcing Jackie Robinson to Exit Game in '46

A former police chief in Sanford, Florida, who once forced Jackie Robinson to leave the baseball field during a minor league game in 1946 has had his name removed from the park. 

Per Zach Dean of the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Sanford City Commission unanimously voted on Monday to remove Roy. G Williams' name from the park. 

"What Jackie Robinson and this ballpark means to the history of Daytona Beach and society in general, it's a powerful thing," Daytona Tortugas general manager Jim Jaworski said Tuesday, per Dean. "To play a small part in that, and continue that message and telling that story today, is pretty incredible."

Elliott Avenue Park will be the new name of the park that had featured Williams' name. 

According to Shav Glick of the Los Angeles Times, because of "strict segregation laws for travel, lodging, eating places and recreational facilities" in the state of Florida, Williams told Montreal Royals manager Clay Hopper that Robinson and John Wright, a Black pitcher for the team, "had to be removed from the ballpark or the game would be stopped."

Glick noted those events unfolded "days" after Robinson played five innings in the first racially integrated spring training game March 17, 1946, for the Royals against the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

City Island Ball Park, where the game was played, was officially renamed Jackie Robinson Ball Park in 1990 and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. 

Robinson was named the International League MVP while playing for the Royals in 1946. He was called up the Dodgers before the start of the following season and made his MLB debut April 15, 1947.