Ken Rosenthal backpedals on his column about "Racial concerns" about the Red Sox.

[SCM33]

I cant stand this "Boston is racist" ********. Ill go back to 1991 and list the major team contributers (in terms of appearances) of different race other than white (right around the time the Yawkeys ended their ownership, since they were believed to be racist):

1991: Tony Pena, Carlos Quintana, Luis Rivera, Ellis Burks

1992: Tony Pena, Mo Vaughn, Luis Rivera, Billy Hatcher

1993: Tony Pena, Mo Vaughn, Billy Hatcher, Carlos Quintana, Andre Dawson

1994: Mo Vaughn, Otis Nixon, Billy Hatcher, Andre Dawson

1995: Mo Vaughn, Luis Alicea, Lee Tinsley, Troy O'Leary, Jose Canseco, Willie Mcgee, Rick Aguilera

1996: Mo Vaughn, Lee Tinsley, Troy O'Leary, Jose Canseco, Reggie Jefferson, Tom Gordon, Heathcliff Slocumb, Rich Garces, Wil Cordero

1997: Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Cordero, O'Leary, Jefferson, Gordon, Slocumb

1998: Vaughn, Nomar, O'Leary, Darren Lewis, Jefferson, Damon Buford, Pedro Martinez, Gordon, Garces

1999: Jose Offerman, Nomar, O'Leary, Lewis, Jefferson, Buford, Butch Huskey, Martinez, Mark Portugal, Garces, Gordon

2000: Offerman, Nomar, Wilton Veras, O'Leary, Carl Everett, Lewis, Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Rolando Arrojo, Tomo Ohka, Garces, Hipolito Pichardo

2001: Offerman, O'Leary, Everett, Manny Ramirez, Hideo Nomo, Frank Castillo, Pedro, Ohka, Arrojo, Garces, Pichardo, Sun Woo Kim

2002: Tony Clark, Rey Sanchez, Nomar, Manny, Carlos Baerga, Offerman, Rickey Henderson, Cliff Floyd, Castillo, Ugeuth Urbina, Garces, Darren Oliver, Willie Banks

2003: Nomar, Manny, David Ortiz, Damian Jackson, Pedro, BK Kim, Ramiro Mendoza

2004: Pokey Reese, Manny, Ortiz, Orlando Cabrera, Nomar, Dave Roberts, Pedro, Mendoza, Kim

2005: Renterria, Manny, Ortiz, Jay Payton, Geremi Gonzalez

2006: Alex Gonzalez, Mike Lowell, Manny, Coco Crisp, Ortiz, Wily Mo Pena, Alex Cora, Julian Tavarez, Manny Delcarmen, Rudy Seanez

2007: Julio Lugo, Mike Lowell, Manny, Crisp, Ortiz, Cora, WM Pena, Dice-K, Tavarez, HIdeki Okijima, Delcarmen, Joel Pineiro

2008: Lugo, Lowell, Manny, Crisp, Ortiz, Cora, Dice-K, Delcarmen, Okijima, Javier Lopez

2009: Lowell, Ortiz, Victor Martinez, Alex Gonzalez, Lugo, Dice-K, Ramon Ramirez, Okijima, Delcarmen, Takashi Saito

 

I dont see the problem here. If less than 9% of all major leaguers are black, how are we at fault for having so few? We have plenty of other races. Can we really be at fault for not having 100% of the 9% African American ballplayers available?

[Lester82]

I even wonder why the Red Sox always seem to have to stand alone in the stain of racism among baseball teams, even if they don't truely stand alone. (But they have to deal with that when they were the last team in the majors to intergrate...)

 

ESPN Classic once had a tremendous piece on the life of Jackie Robinson.

 

They read letters that Jackie Robinson had written, in the letters Jackie Robinson specifically mentions the Red Sox. He says although there happened to be racism in the Red Sox organization, the Red Sox were far from the only team with tolerance issues. Robinson mentioned racism in the Yankee organization.

 

The Yankees were one of the last clubs to add a black player to their team, Elston Howard. This ESPN piece explained part of the backwards reasoning on the Yankees' part for why they chose a catcher to be their 1st black player. Because he would be behind a catcher's mask (well part of the time). They could sell it better to their white NYC investors on Wall Street. The Yankees even privately said a black ballplayer had to be the "right kind of n-gger to play for the Yankees."

 

The more racially progressive teams in baseball were in the National League. The Cardinals with black and Latino players on their teams years before other clubs, and of course the Dodgers having Jackie Robinson as the first black player and the Giants were also progressive.

[a700hitter]

I even wonder why the Red Sox always seem to have to stand alone in the stain of racism among baseball teams, even if they don't truely stand alone. (But they have to deal with that when they were the last team in the majors to intergrate...)

 

ESPN Classic once had a tremendous piece on the life of Jackie Robinson.

 

They read letters that Jackie Robinson had written, in the letters Jackie Robinson specifically mentions the Red Sox. He says although there happened to be racism in the Red Sox organization, the Red Sox were far from the only team with tolerance issues. Robinson mentioned racism in the Yankee organization.

 

The Yankees were one of the last clubs to add a black player to their team, Elston Howard. This ESPN piece explained part of the backwards reasoning on the Yankees' part for why they chose a catcher to be their 1st black player. Because he would be behind a catcher's mask (well part of the time). They could sell it better to their white NYC investors on Wall Street. The Yankees even privately said a black ballplayer had to be the "right kind of n-gger to play for the Yankees."

 

The more racially progressive teams in baseball were in the National League. The Cardinals with black and Latino players on their teams years before other clubs, and of course the Dodgers having Jackie Robinson as the first black player and the Giants were also progressive.

When the Yankees brought up Ellie Howard, Casey Stengel said "the finally get me 'one' and he can't run." I don't think Casey was a racist. Attitudes were different back then. He used to call Joe D "Big Dago" and of course Rizzuto was not the Scooter to Stengel. He was "Little Dago." He loved those guys, but things were not PC back then.

[Lester82]

Things "weren't PC then"... Well, sure. That's also code for they were racist. Old boys network. Sorry, this is going back in time, but whatever Joe DiMaggio was nicknamed wasn't quite on par with the Yankees saying "you gotta be the right kind of n-gger to play for the Yankees."

It was a statement that was a mix of both the arrogance then of the perennial winner Yankees, coupled with their racism. Then there was Tom Yawkey, who might as well have worn a Klan robe at times.

 

Thankfully we're past those days. Dan Duquette was actually quite great at looking to players of all corners of the globe. And there were others before or after him that were progressive. (Which is what Ken Rosenthal missed when he was talking modern Sox.)

[a700hitter]

Things "weren't PC then"... Well, sure. That's also code for they were racist. Old boys network. Sorry, this is going back in time, but whatever Joe DiMaggio was nicknamed wasn't quite on par with the Yankees saying "you gotta be the right kind of n-gger to play for the Yankees."

It was a statement that was a mix of both the arrogance of the perennial winner Yankees and racism on their part. Then there was Tom Yawkey, who might as well have worn a Klan robe at times.

 

Thankfully we're past those days. Dan Duquette was actually quite great at looking to players of all corners of the globe. And there were others before or after him that were progressive.

I'm not absolving the Yankee organization of any bad behavior. I was just relating a story that I had heard or read about the time when they signed Ellie Howard.

 

I do think actions need to be put into the context of the times before judgment can be passed. I don't think people realize what an act of courage it was for Branch Rickey to break the color barrier. Robinson gets all the accolades, and he deserves to be honored, but Robinson himself humbly acknowledged that he was merely a player in Rickey's great social experiment. You have to remember what Rickey was up against. He was risking his business, because they didn't know how fans would react. Many of the white players didn't like it, because it threatened their job security. He had to worry about sponsors. Financially, there was really nothing to gain by Rickey, and a lot to lose. He did it because he thought it was the right thing for society. Rickey was a uniquely courageous, moral and ethical man. That doesn't mean that the rest of the owners and executives were racist. I hear and read a lot about Yawkey being a racist, but I have never read or heard any accounts about him doing something racist. My recollection is that his players throughout the decades had a great deal of affection for the man and vice versa. I think smearing a man who was so charitable based on nothing other than being a team owner during segregation is a bit unfair.

[vic vinegar]

what an idiot, who brings out the race-card in these times

 

and joe buck is way worse

[Eck20and8]

ridiculous, part of the issue is baseball is a much whiter sport than other pro games, these PC baseball writers need to stick to finding out about trade rumors

[Imperial59]

ridiculous' date=' part of the issue is baseball is a much whiter sport than other pro games, these PC baseball writers need to stick to finding out about trade rumors[/quote']

 

The thing about baseball, is it does have a lot of white players. 60% of MLB players are white. But it's one of the more diverse major sports in the U.S. Whereas 68% of MLB is made up of white and black people, 97% of the NFL is made up of white and black people and 96% of the NBA is made up of white and black people. If you just look at race as a white and black issue, then sure, baseball isn't very diverse. But it's the only major sport in the United States (including MLS) with four races which are represented by at least 3% of the sport's major league athletes.