How Chadwick Boseman prepared to play Jackie Robinson

We have a wide range of topics for today’s morning news post.

First up is how Chadwick Boseman, who died last week after a private four-year battle with cancer, honed his baseball skills in preparation for the movie ‘42.’ Zach Buchanan at The Athletic told the story of how former Dodgers minor league player, and actor, David Iden, helped Boseman train at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks in 2011.

From Buchanan:

Boseman had met with Robinson’s widow, Rachel, upon landing the part and understood the responsibility he’d shoulder by taking the role. He also knew it was his first leading role in a major motion picture, the type of opportunity that was not to be squandered. His days were already full — he had to hit the gym and study his script and run lines and do research — but he routinely stayed late at the field. He always wanted one more rep. “He wanted to be perfect,” Iden says.

Dodgers reporter Alanna Rizzo started her charity, Guidry’s Guardian, in 2019, and over the last year has saved roughly 100 dogs by finding foster homes. The organization is named after her dog, who passed away last year.

Lydia Pantazes of Spectrum News profiled Rizzo:

“I didn’t really grow up with a dog in my home,” she said. “When I adopted Guidry in 2009, he really just changed my life. I had no idea, I don’t have children of my own and I had no idea what it was like to have that unconditional love for something.”

Ross Stripling posted this goodbye to the Dodgers on Instagram on Tuesday night:

Vin Scully had his first social media posts on Wednesday. Here’s the first tweet: