YOUNGSTOWN — National sports coverage by ESPN of Youngstown’s “Handshake for the Century,” as memorialized by a statue in Wean Park, has won a top award from a prestigious organization of veteran New York journalists.

The story behind what led to the statue has earned recognition in the Silurian Press Club’s 77th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards.

The Medallion Award went to, “A Handshake from a White Teammate Signaled Jackie Robinson’s Arrival in America’s Game,” by William Weinbaum for ESPN.

The Silurians Press Club, established in 1924 as The Society of the Silurians, is an organization of more than 300 veteran and retired New York journalists. Early members included William Randolph Hearst, Lincoln Steffens and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck.

In addition to sponsoring the Excellence In Journalism awards annually since 1945, the Silurians also provide educational grants for local journalism students and relief for journalists in financial trouble.

The Medallion and merit awards will be presented at a dinner June 15 at the National Arts Club in Manhattan.

LAST SUMMER

Last July, the Robinson-Shuba Commemorative Statue was unveiled.

It shows the two legendary baseball players frozen in a moment of historic significance, though its underlying meaning, symbolism and message must continue to move forward and endure for the ages, many say.

The unveiling of the much-anticipated 7-foot, 2,000-pound bronze statue drew attendance in the hundreds. The monument also is a symbol of the importance of racial harmony and equality.

The statue captures the moment after Robinson had hit his first home run — a three-run blast over the left field wall — for the Montreal Royals, a Triple-A affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers, on April 18, 1946, off Jersey City (N.J.) Giants pitcher Warren Sandel. The two men who also scored did not wait at home plate for Robinson.

As he scored, however, Robinson’s white teammate George “Shotgun” Shuba, who was on deck, reached out to congratulate him and shake his hand, which marked the first interracial handshake in modern organized baseball.

AN EXCERPT

Here is the beginning of Weinbaum’s article:

The letter from St. Christine School to Mike Shuba’s parents said their son had teased another kid in his kindergarten class for being overweight.

When Mike got home, his father, George “Shotgun” Shuba, pointed at the wall above his recliner to the only memento displayed in the house from his 14-year professional baseball career. “I want you to look up at that photo,” he said to his young son. “That’s me and Jackie Robinson and I want you to understand what it means: ‘You treat all people equal.’ Do you understand?”

The framed black-and-white image showed the two teammates from the Montreal Royals shaking hands at home plate on April 18, 1946. It was Robinson’s first regular-season game in the formerly all-white minor leagues, a milestone for baseball and for America that came a year before Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The handshake appeared in newspapers across North America the day after the game, then was virtually forgotten for half a century — except in the family room of the Shuba’s home. In the late 1990s, when the elder Shuba was in his 70s, Mike Shuba embarked on a mission to have others see the principled man an adoring son saw in a long-cherished photo.

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