CLEVELAND -- Tony Sipp grew up in a predominantly poor and
predominantly black community in Mississippi dreaming of one day
finding an escape from his surroundings.  For Sipp, that escape
came on the baseball field. And the time he put in honing his
craft has led him to a place in the Indians' bullpen.  "I try to
make people in my hometown aware of the opportunities outside of
Mississippi," Sipp said. "I try to tell people that you can come
from the same predicament and situation I came from and make it
somewhere."  But Sipp knows there was a time when a person with
his skin color couldn't have made it in the big leagues. That's
why he appreciates the opportunity given him here, and that's
why donning Jackie Robinson's No. 42 for Thursday's game against
the Rangers meant so much to him.  "This is his day," Sipp said
of Robinson, who broke into the Majors with the Dodgers exactly
63 years ago. "We're paying homage to what he did and the
sacrifices he made. It definitely feels inspiring to make the
best of my o