Woods is likened to Robinson

US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton called Tiger Woods the successor to baseball legend Jackie Robinson during a 50th anniversary tribute in New York to honour the first black in US team sports.

"Even as we celebrate his brilliant successor and his victory in the Masters, we need more young people from all walks of life to get their Master's degree," Clinton said.

Clinton spoke during ceremonies after the fifth inning of a game between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, whom Robinson played for during their final decade based in Brooklyn.

For Joe Black, a consultant to the league commissioner's office and former Dodger room mate of Robinson, Woods is an important pioneer but is not the equal of his former team mate.

"Jackie bad to be a pioneer. He opened doors. Tiger didn't open doors," Black said. "It's a great feat what he did and where he did it. But it's not the same."

But Black predicts Tiger will move society closer to ending racism.

"Look at those fans in Augusta. Most of them were white," Black said. "They didn't see colour. They saw a great golfer. And they are young. Young adult Americans will get rid of the old racist attitudes of their parents. Tiger has brought youth back into the equation.

"Now it's Tigermania. They have to respect him. They are saying, `These aren't such bad people after all.' It's not going to change like night and, day. You will see little changes.

Clinton told a fund raiser in Brooklyn near the site where Robinson once played that Woods and Robinson should be recalled for similar attributes.

"It's all the more appropriate coming as it does right after Tiger Woods' record shattering performance in the Masters," he said. "It's important to remember you had the two great ingredients of a good society at work.

"You had a highly disciplined, profoundly dignified, greatly talented player who was prepared not only physically but also emotionally and mentally to do what had to be done. The same thing happened in the Masters."

Woods, flow likely to triple his $60 million in endorsement deals, won $460,000 on Sunday - $163,750 more than Robinson was paid in his entire 10 year career.

Modern players and fans, and even Woods, cannot understand Robinson's feat of enduring humiliation without retaliation and playing a decade of baseball at a superstar level, Black said.

"None of these people have walked in the shoes of Robinson and faced the things he faced," Black said. "They yelled, `Hey Robinson, king of the niggers. Look at the monkey.' When you slid into home plate and the catcher says, `Nigger what are you doing here,' then you will know.

"They have sympathy. They know what he went through. But they don't understand the way a black man does. Even Tiger didn't accomplish that, because the doors were already open. In another week it will hit him."

Former American League star Reggie Jackson praised Woods for his memory of golf pioneers Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford, who broke colour barriers on the PGA Tour and at the Masters.

"The most important thing I saw was his social consciousness," said Jackson, who doubts he will ever see Woods or any African American man treated as an equal by a white society.

"Some people don't realise a black man is qualified to be a leader of an $800 million company," he said. "I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. I doubt there will be minority equality in another 30 years."

Woods and Michael Jordan are global sports heroes, but Black sees a new generation that must remember Robinson now the way it must honour Jordan and Woods in another 50 years.

"It's an age thing. Michael and Tiger have taken over," Black said. "It used to be Jackie. Now they grow up with basketball. It's a new generation. But Jackie is relevant. In the black community, we need a boost.

"We need to salute our heroes and remember what Jackie Robinson did. Jackie let us know we all live in a country where opportunity is real. The bottom line was he showed black and white can work together."