Jackie Robinson Day Whitewashes Baseball's Sordid History

Thanks for this .

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/stevenrenderos/torii-hunters-not-wrong-and-her...

Torii Hunter's recent comments about Black Latino players were poorly stated, but it doesn't make his statement wrong. My real regret is that he didn't fully expand into the causes behind his thoughts of a sport that has a dwindling number of African-American players and an increase of players from Latin America.

Let's break his comments down:
"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American."

The "people" in his comments are the fans. Both at home and at the game. Lets not forget history here, there was in fact a time when Major League Baseball was an all-white sport. It's tough to live down that type of history, it would be like Strom Thurmond running on a platform of equality.

In fact, the integration of baseball came at a time when "White America" was resistant to this change. How resistant? After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers (my team) in 1947, it took 12 years for the Boston Red Sox to field an African American player.

In the U.S. what tends to happen around historical legacies of racism is it gets over-celebrated to the point of making us believe that history is behind us. For example, every professional baseball team has retired the number 42, Jackie Robinson's number. On every possible anniversary, Jackie Robinson's story is retold through exciting montages. There's nothing wrong with that, cause I like seeing my team (Dodgers) on jumbo-trons across the U.S. but again the narrative that Robinson represents is the ugly legacy of racism as having been overcome in the 1950s.

And how many countless movies have been made about the African American (insert sport) team that against racism defied the odds to excel in their craft? It's the belief that in the U.S. despite racism an individual or in this scenario, a team, can still achieve greatness if they only work hard enough.

Back to Hunter's comments, "the perception is that they're African American." And he's right, but he's also wrong. The perception isn't that they're literally African American, it's that they're not white and that is proof to the fans at large that this sport and by virtue our society is a melting pot.

But why is that? First of all an all-white team would probably be bad for business. Not talent-wise but in terms of perception. You think the Red Sox don't try to overcompensate given their status as the last team to integrate?

The second part of Hunter's comments which drew criticism:
"They're not us. They're impostors."

Poor choice of words, this I agree. But the significance is what I believe is important. Major League Baseball more so than the other major professional sports (Basketball and Football) invest heavily in scouting systems outside of the United States. Why is that? More bang for their buck.

The MLB and it's activities in Latin America mirror the United States' economic policies. It's a more sophisticated form of imperialism one that extracts raw materials from different countries only to later export that raw material back as a commodity. In baseball's case the raw material are young hungry players and the commodified export are the success stories: David Ortiz, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, etc. Players that came from nothing and made beaucoup bucks playing baseball.

It's not a coincidence that today 30% of professional baseball players are Latinos. Compare to that to about 10% for African American baseball players. That number is sure to rise, you only need to look at the Minor Leagues and scouting practices by professional teams to know that more and more players from outside the U.S. will be making up the overall roster of a team in the future.

What Hunter doesn't talk about is the exploitation that occurs in this system. To the buscon (unofficial baseball scout) who connects players to a regional baseball scout, who then connects them to a professional baseball scout and along the way each of those individuals profit off of the discovery of talent.

It's a cheap way to import talent and "diversity" to professional baseball. So when Torii Hunter talks about the perception of "African Americans" on the field, what's important to remember is the product that's presented to us is "diversity" that generates revenue. And increasing profits is at the heart of personnel decisions in baseball. So if a baseball team can get a Torii Hunter-esque player from the Dominican Republic, why wouldn't they? It's a cheaper option, rather than drafting a player from High School or College and signing them to Minor League contracts.

I played baseball in my hood growing up but to be honest, baseball is not a cheap sport to participate in. If you look at a lot of professional baseball players from the U.S. they've been involved in organized team activities since they had diapers. Surprise...surprise the players that make it are the ones who can afford to do it. I had to give up when I was 16 because my league had an age limit. To continue my baseball career I'd have to join a pay to play league and unfortunately that wasn't within my budget. Not to say I would've made it professionally, but my experience was not uncommon.

Torii's mistake wasn't calling Black Latinos "imposters", his mistake was making this statement to a sports reporter who couldn't connect politics to sports even if it slapped him in the face. This story fits in nicely to this practice of Black vs. Brown wedge politics. It's no surprise USA Today followed that article with a follow up story that asks the question: Were Torii Hunter's Comments Racist?

His comments weren't racist. MLB's lack of investment in low income communities is racist. USA Today's attempts to promote polarizing comments without context is racist. The only impostors are those that believe we are a post-racial society and point to the White House and the baseball diamond for proof

A wonderful movie about the old Negro League with Satchel Page, Josh Gibson and Jackie Robinson, and Jackie Robinson moving to the white leagues is HBOs "Soul of the Game" starring Blair Underwood as Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lendo as Satchel Page and Mykelti Williamson as Josh Gibson. After seeing this movie my interest in the Negro League grew and I became very much enjoyed learning about it.

We have a sordid history in all areas of how America has treated black people. Fortunately we're advancing and becoming better. At some point we have to let the hurt go and accept the changes.

You are right.

Please consider that as difficult as it was, Jackie Robinson freed the White players too. Hate, prejudice and other evils ultimately do more damage to the hater than the hated. It has to be a knawing feeling that one is only the best in their race with no chance of just being the best.

Jackie changed major league sports from the best "White" players to the best players. He used the power the Rabbi Jesus, Gandhi and Dr. King spoke of 'turn the other cheek.' Difficult but it works.

Now, if I can just get today's sports leagues to have a division that is just the best players, male or female.

Truth in sports, like anything else, is good for all.

I like the fact that on Jackie Robinson Day white guys "honor" him by wearing his number as if he did something for white players. Comedy gold!

What you are saying is it's better to revel in our bigoted past then it is to move forward and amend?

I lost faith in Baseball when they had the strike. Before that I had been a big fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. When I read how much the players were making and that they had a strike to ask for even more, I was appalled. Now I hate all ball games that play players millions to throw a fucking ball around. These are such wasted resources when the real heroes should be the people who cure disease and make the blind see and the deaf hear. These are the people who should be getting paid millions.

The racism in baseball was indicitive of our society as a whole, there were easily a hundred great black ballplayers playing in the negro leagues that were without a doubt better than that many white players in the majors. Josh Gibson is reported to have hit the longest home run of all time. Satchel Page pitched nine innings almost every time he took the mound. Page in one game so confident of getting the last out he told his team to clear the field, they did and he struck the batter out. Just two quick easy examples. The major league owners of the day were as racist as the players, for the most part. Jackie Robinson when on the road in the majors had to stay in different hotels than his team. Jim Crow was the rule of the day. He had to eat in negro restaurants. In many ways it irked J.R. but he did find solice and peace at least being among other black man and women on the road, the culture, blues,ragtime all born out of the black community. His reserved nature is something every American should be proud of, his ethics were better than most white players, JR didn't cheat on his wife like many of his team mates. Racism was still alive and well when I moved to Boston as a young man. I grew up in New Jersey during the 60's & 70's when race became more of a problem after the 68 olympics in Mexico City and the emergence of the black power movement. Racism was prevelent in Basketball too Bill Russel hated Boston in the early years, he could hardly stand the racism. Todays greatest players, many of them are black. Sports and enertainment have long been the first avenue out of the ghetto for Blacks, before them the Jews and before them Irish. racism has reared its ugly head at many people over the last one hundred and forty years. Baseball was late in its acknowledgement of Jackie Robinson but we do have to thank Branch Rickey for taking the risk he did that changed sports in America forever. The only thing I wish is that when black players make in pro sports they pressure each other to be good role models. Ben Rothlesberger could use a few lessons too along with many white players who forget how lucky they are. There no room for racism in this country any more, its shallow, ignorant and without compassion for the struggles blacks were forced to endure for so long. Some still do.

My father taught U.S. history (and English), and both my parents were civil rights activists (from even the early 30s), and my father would have been so proud to have had you in one of his classes, if only for sharing with the rest of the world this article of truth.