Young's college paper explored the depth of Robinson's impact

By: DAN HAYES - Staff Writer | Sunday, April 15, 2007 12:30 AM PDT ∞

LOS ANGELES ---- With all the talking heads debating the importance of today's 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut, it's surprising Chris Young hasn't been a panelist anywhere.

The Padres' pitcher spent his final year at Princeton writing a thesis paper based on "how racial attitudes and stereotypes changed within the media as a result of the integration into baseball."

The politics major wrote most of the 65-page paper while he was playing for Single-A Hickory in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization in 2002. Young said he earned a B on the paper and thinks he would have received a better grade if he hadn't been "more concerned with getting the paper turned in and graduating.

"I knew I'd put in the time and effort. It was a matter of writing it."

Which he did from his apartment, or on the team bus during road trips. Even though he had to rush it, Young still took a lot from the experience.

"I knew from a personal standpoint I learned a ton," Young said. "It was significant what I'd studied."

He spent a year gathering clips from newspapers ---- mostly the New York Times ---- to gauge how non-sports stories involving race were written. He compared stories before Robinson's April 15, 1947 debut to those written after.

Young said he used papers because there were no public opinion polls at the time and "you had to go off opinions in the media. Whether it's accurate or not, it's how people formulate their opinions," Young said.

His opinion?

"If it's not the most influential (sports moment) it's gotta be one of the top ones in sports history," Young said. "Just the way it changed society. The repercussions of what Jackie Robinson did, it's been tremendous. It's still likely to be measured and I think it will be as long as the game continues to progress.

"It's a piece of American history." Ý

Hensley leaves early

Clay Hensley wants to be on the Padres' bench for tonight's 5:05 game, but if all goes according to plan he'll be landing in Chicago by the first pitch.

The right-hander ---- who's feeling "pain free" after a bout with a blister ---- is flying commercially ahead of the team so he can rest for Monday's 5:05 p.m. Cubs game.

The Padres' chartered flight from Los Angeles is expected to arrive at 3:45 a.m. if there are no weather issues. And the thought is that might leave Hensley ---- who is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA ---- a little out of it when game time approached.

"Maybe it'll help," Hensley joked. "I don't like doing it period. But we're trying to be smart about it in case of any unforeseeable (weather). ... I just want to stay and watch the guys play." Ý

Et cetera

RHP Greg Maddux celebrated his 41st birthday on Saturday. Maddux shares the birth date with Pete Rose and David Justice. ... According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 29 1/3 shutout innings posted by the Padres' bullpen to start the season was the most by a relief corps since 1900. The 1955 Chicago White Sox held the previous mark of 22 innings.