Martha's Vineyard man hopes to thank Obama with Jackie Robinson photo

By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

OAK BLUFFS — During last year’s Obama family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, part-time island resident Tom Murro and his daughter, Lauren, got to meet the president at Farm Neck Golf Club.

This year, Murro and his daughter are coming back to the Vineyard, to try to complete a long effort to present the president with a gift, to thank him for making the time to pose with them for photographs last year.

“Gifting Obama isn’t easy” said Murro, who doesn’t want to chance damaging the gift—a photograph—by mailing it, and can’t figure out how to get it to the president.

The gift is a photograph of Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers sliding safe into home plate in the 1955 World Series, ahead of the tag from New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. Murro had the picture autographed by Berra, who wrote: “Dear Mr. President. He was out.”

Murro, of New Jersey, is arriving on the island with the photo on Sunday, and is hoping to raise some attention to his plight so that some intermediary will volunteer to get the picture to the president.

The president is scheduled to arrive on Martha's Vineyard with his family this afternoon and plans to stay for 10 days. The trip marks the second year in a row the first family has vacationed on the island retreat.