A despicable act of vandalism sparked a chorus of outrage Wednesday after swastikas and racist slurs were found scrawled on the iconic Jackie Robinson statue outside the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium.
A manager at MCU Park in Coney Island stumbled upon the defaced statue about 8:30 a.m., just hours before thousands of kids showed up at the ballpark for Camp Day.
Among the hate-filled messages written in black marker on the monument of Robinson and his Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese were: “Hile (sic) Hitler,” “Die N—-r” and “F–k Jackie Robinson and all N——s.”
In a bid to help cops catch the hate-filled coward, the Daily News is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
Investigators were poring over surveillance video Wednesday night.
The desecration drew fiery denunciations from a slew of politicians and former baseball stars — including one of Robinson’s last living teammates, Ralph Branca.
“I have no idea why anyone would do that,” Branca, 87, told the Daily News. “The statue signified a great moment in American history.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, in a surprise visit to the site, lashed out at the perpetrator.
“I hope you’re punished for what you did because what [you] did put a dagger in the heart of what America is all about,” Schumer said.
“That there are still people who don’t understand what Jackie Robinson stood for in his grace, and his strength and the beautiful person he was and to try and deface him, defame him by defacing this statue is just an act of . . . it’s beyond words to me,” he added.
Photos of the defaced statue obtained by The News show an image of a swastika above a Hitler reference and the word “N—–s” scrawled twice on the base, just above the inscription detailing the monument’s significance.
The bronze and stone statue commemorates one of the most touching moments in baseball history.
Robinson, the first black man to play in the major leagues, was met with a barrage of racist taunts and death threats when he strode out onto Cincinnati’s Crosley Field during his rookie year in 1947.
Without warning, Reese walked over to first base from shortstop. He slung his glove hand around Robinson’s shoulders in a gesture of friendship — and glared at the hecklers inside the Cincinnati dugout and those filling the stands above.
Reese then ran his hand across the word “Brooklyn” on his jersey, Branca recalled.
The hecklers went silent.
“It was a great gesture on his part,” Branca told The News. “That took some guts, some courage.”
The statue, erected in 2005, shows the two players, with Reese’s arm around Robinson’s shoulder.
“I remember Jackie talking about Pee Wee’s gesture the day it happened,” Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson, told The New York Times after the statue was unveiled.
“It came as such a relief to him, that a teammate and the captain of the team would go out of his way in such a public fashion to express friendship.”
Team officials believe the crime happened between midnight and 6 a.m., according to a police source.
After the graffiti was discovered, a crew of workers scrubbed clean the legs of the statue ahead of the team’s 11 a.m. game. The Parks Department had to be called in to try to erase the swastika and other messages on the statue’s stone base.
“We had 7,000 fans coming to the game and the vast majority were kids from local camps,” said Billy Harner, spokesman for the Cyclones, a minor-league affiliate of the Mets.
Most of the scrawling was gone by late morning, but part of the base was still hidden from public view by a garbage bag Wednesday night.
“Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese embody the humanity and inclusiveness that make our borough, city and country great,” the Cyclones organization said in a statement. “It is both heartbreaking and deeply disturbing that this statue, which is a symbol of equality and tolerance, has been defaced in such an offensive and hateful way.”
The vandalism also disgusted fans streaming out of the ballpark Wednesday.
“This is messed up what transpired,” said Noel Aguillar. “All the kids are here.”
Patrick Gabour, who volunteers at Cyclones games, was visibly angry as he sat outside the statue with a couple bottles of paint remover.
“It’s disgusting,” said Gabour. “I could understand it 20, 30, 40 years ago, but you know what? It’s not like that now.”
Coney Island resident Queenie Huling agreed.
“It’s very offensive,” said Huling, 67, who is a former president of the Brooklyn chapter of the National Action Network.
“It’s a true insult to this community and to Jackie Robinson.”
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz also expressed his dismay. “I’m beyond disgusted by the defacing of the #JackieRobinson monument,” he posted on Twitter.
A total of 36 cameras are installed inside and outside the stadium, but none is trained directly on the statue.
“We’re hopeful that with different angles, we’ll be able to put something together,” Harner said.
Police are investigating the vandalism as a possible hate crime.
With Anne Lagamayo
