Vandals returned to the headquarters of a Wichita youth baseball league at which a Jackie Robinson statue previously was stolen, tagging it with graffiti in a string of incidents over the past several weeks, the league's executive director told ESPN on Tuesday.
Bob Lutz of League 42, which is named after the MLB legend and civil rights hero, said the incidents included graffiti on bleachers, a mural and a stone that honors league donors. A vandal crossed out "Jackie" on the stone inscribed with "Friends of Jackie." Lutz said he found books from an outdoor library, meant to encourage literacy among the league's players, strewn about.
"We were able to pick up trash and clean up graffiti," Lutz said. "But we're a little concerned that [the incidents are] starting to happen with more regularity."
A Robinson statue that sits nears the league's fields was reported stolen in January 2024. A prosecutor later sentenced a Kansas man, Ricky Alderete, to 15 years in prison for multiple cases, including the theft of the bronze statue that was cut at the ankles.
It's unclear who is responsible for the recent incidents.
In a Facebook post on April 12, Lutz said there were two incidents of vandalism at McAdams Park, where League 42 plays its games. Lutz said yellow paint was dropped on a bollard that protects a replacement Robinson statue. Someone also vandalized the outdoor library that day.
Then, this past weekend, Lutz said someone altered the donor stone.
Jackie Robinson Day was on April 15.
Lutz, a former Wichita newspaper reporter, founded the league more than a decade ago. It now has 630 players, uses four fields and provides an indoor workout facility with artificial turf, along with after-school tutoring and financial literacy programs.
The league erected the original statue of Robinson in 2021 and the replacement in August 2024. Lutz said League 42 received a $100,000 check from MLB in 2024 for the new statue, as well as security and lighting around it.