Connection Combat: It's a Home Run ~ Jackie Robinson vs. Yogi Berra

Question

Hi Connectors (and anyone else interested!), 

This month's Connection Combat is a Home Run.  It's baseball legends Jackie Robinson and Yogi Berra.

Jackie Robinson was a second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Yogi Berra played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball and is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

Jackie Robinson

and

Yogi Berra

Ready, set, go!

The rules and guidelines are here, and post in this thread once you've made a connection so we can declare a winner! 

Remember, the goal is to connect one of these individuals to the previous month's winner -  Charles Schulz.

If you need to be added to a Trusted List, let me know and I will add you.

The winning profile will be featured as one of our Special Connections (like Queen Elizabeth II and Kevin Bacon) so members can have a chance to see how they are connected.

Answer 1

OK - I've started a bit on putting Yogi's siblings into the system, but I'm not seeing any clear connection emerging yet. These two are pretty challenging as I think they've both had at least one round prior that failed to establish a connection. I'm going to remain hopeful that I can get Yogi's siblings done shortly and then maybe start on Jackie's missing immediate family (if there are any). Then we'll have to assess which one looks the most promising.

Comments

NIce, thanks Scott!

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Oooookay... Yogi is connected, but the connection is not well-sourced at the moment. Went through his wife, all the way up to the top of the Short line (ha - that's a good pun...) then crossover to his wife, an Arney - who was already in the system. I'll need to backtrack as I only used Find-A-Grave for the vast majority of the profiles, and I'd rather have some more solid sources to show the connection.

We'll see how far out he is when the links update tonight.

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OK - I've confirmed the connections with some sources better than just Find-A-Grave alone, so I'm pretty confident in the connection. But to prove he's connected to Charles Schulz will be a trick - he's fallen off the connection finder at this point. I can prove that his ancestor Sarah Arney (Arney-362) is within 22 steps of Bacon, and Charles Schulz is within 20 steps of Bacon, so I know there's a connection, but it might be a pretty distant one.

Answer 2

Jackie Robinson at first glance was in pretty good shape, but I'm noticing a lot of missing information. I've added sources to his profile (oddly, there were no sources at all), found his father and paternal grandfather's data and added them to the unsourced profiles. I've also sourced his mother. There's quite a bit of work to be had on his profiles and it's going to take awhile to see if I can find a connection. But I'm noting that Jerry Robinson had a large family and so did Mallie McGriff, so there are lots of possibilities out there.

Sadly, I find a lot of black profiles out there face major challenges around the time of the Civil War, as many family histories were either poorly recorded prior to this period or not at all, and only the few that have taken the time to reconstruct them or passed them along in an oral tradition have much hope of tracing prior connections. I remain hopeful that a connection can be found.

Comments

Ugh - I just updated Rachel Robinson, Jackie's wife, to reflect that she was still living... and it went to RED status. The profile manager hasn't been on since 2015, so I've sent requests that probably will go nowhere. If you can free up her profile (add me and Notables to the trusted list, reduce profile to yellow privacy, etc.) then I'll source out her parents which is where I was headed. Thanks.

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OK - so Jackie's family has LOTS of kids with the previous generations. Lots of Aunts and Uncles that will take time to properly source and create, so anyone who would like to pitch in is more than welcome. :)

I have a feeling it may take some time to get a proper connection, but with this many relatives, it's only a matter of time.

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Plugging away - McGriff Aunts/Uncles added - only a few leads there that might pan out in the long run - heading back to Jackie's siblings now, then on to the Robinson Aunts/Uncles. In either case, he'll have a properly sourced and filled out tree when this is done. I really hate to see a neglected tree, so at the very least I'll feel a little bit better that his family is properly represented.

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Siblings done - a few potential leads here too. On to the Robinson Aunts/Uncles...

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Well, Jackie is now one of my "most unconnecteds". I've added his family, several families that his family married into, and at least one beyond that. No connections or even hints of connections as of yet. More family to add, but unfortunately most of them stayed in one area (southern Georgia) and appear to have never left. Jackie was a rare exception, along with his immediate family that I've already panned out for the most part. The families I'm exploring now are all intermingled, but within the same area (Grady and Decatur counties, primarily) although there was a hint of promise with some family from Leon county Florida, but no luck so far. One family even made it to Ohio, but then they all passed away. I'll keep looking, but this will likely be a long-term pursuit.

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Somebody has connected Jackie Robinson.