Touch 'Em All: Baseball honors Jackie Robinson, bombing victims

It's a good time to reflect on what's great about sports and athletics - how we are lifted up and reminded of the better part of our nature.

So runners can challenge themselves to run 26.2 miles and we gather to cheer their acomplishment - and no murderous act, for whatever addled motive, can do anything other than redouble our appreciation and strengthen the resolve to strive for our best.

So a baseball player can change his society by playing the game at the highest athletic standard, while gracefully dealing with racist vitriol and disparagement.

Monday was Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, with all players wearing his number 42, and teams holding ceremonies to honor the memory of the Brooklyn Dodgers great, while also observing moments of silence for victims the Boston Marathon bombings.

The message of the 66th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's racial barrier is timely.

Hate can't win.

Body and mind. Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson took time off from rehabbing his broken right forearm in Florida, flying in from Tampa on Sunday so he could take students from a Brooklyn high school to a screening of the Robinson bio-pic 42 on Monday.

Granderson, who was hit by a pitch in his first spring-training at-bat, did his rehab work in the Bronx, before showing his sense of history.

The slugger said he can't put a date on his return and will need to get fully comfortable throwing before he can start swinging a bat. After that, he said, he'll need "50 to 70 at-bats" before he's ready to rejoin the big club.

"Once the throwing is good to go, then we'll start swinging," he said. "I'm just here for the day."

Snow ball. So much for baseball being a harbinger of spring - at least in places like Minnesota and Colorado.

The New York Mets had their second straight snowed-out game on Monday, unable to play the Rockies after an April storm left Denver, and Coors Field, ankle-deep in the white stuff.

Winter conditions in Minneapolis on Sunday forced the Mets' game against the Twins to be called off and rescheduled for Aug. 19 (when, presumably, there will be a thaw).

Mets pitchers played catch outdoors for about 15 minutes - with baseballs, not snowballs - before calling it a day.