Lance McAllister, who has a show and blog at 1530HOMER - The Sports Animal in Cincinnati, throws an interesting and provocative line into the waters of the Jackie Robinson Day yesterday.
I am with him that it was a great moment for baseball. This is a league that consistently bungles things like this. Just wait for when Barry Bonds hits #756. But Bud Selig and the league handled this excellently. Players were allowed to wear #42, which is retired from every team, including some teams having everyone wear the number. I feel that was the best thing to do...since everyone who puts on a baseball uniform [whether you are black, white, latino, asian or anything] has been effected by what Jackie Robinson did 60 years ago.
This time, the media screwed this up. While baseball was celebrating Robinson's career and acheivements ... the media dwelled on the fact that there aren't as many black players in baseball and that too many people were donning the #42 jersey.
Now, why there aren't as many black players is a very valid question and needs to be addressed....but not during this time. This has been an obvious issue for over a decade now and seems to have slid under the media's attention until the freakin' weekend that Mr. Robinson's legacy is being celebrated. The media forgets that because of Jackie Robinson....EVERYTHING is more integrated. Baseball was Jackie's way.
Also, look how many non-white players there are in the league. The Latin Explosion has been just that ... and the bridge from the MLB to Japanese baseball [and Korea, and Chinese] has had quite a few visitors. This is as a diverse league as any where people from all over the globe are playing in this game.
That's a great thing ... and something worthy of the celebration of Jackie's memory. Now, the media is doing a good job shining a light on this issue...just did it at the wrong time. And if the media really cares about this issue, they won't let it die after the #42 jerseys are packed away.
Here is Mr. McAllister's take on the situation:
Sunday was the 60th anniversary of the greatest impact moment in sports history.....and yet look what was done with it by the media and players.
Ken Griffey Jr was one of the few that got it right. Jr chose to celebrate and honor Jackie and the impact of that moment. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier......his story is about the struggle for inclusion and diversity. It's the story of triumph and impact. What did the media and players do with it?
The media focused on the dwindling number of blacks in the game and what MLB hasn't done to create more interest in the game for blacks. It's as if the media expects MLB has to hold blacks by the hand and lead them to the game.
Some players actually whined that too many players were going to wear #42.
Tori Hunter even blasted the Astros for having no black players, and for having all their players wear #42. Had no Astro worn #42, Hunter would have blasted them for ignoring the moment.
Am I the only one that sees tremendous diversity in MLB? 40-percent of MLB players are non-white. Consider the NBA is 80-percent black and the NFL is 70-percent black. Sounds like MLB is doing a hell of job in diversity by comparison.
Why such a desire for the racial scoreboard?
Is it about just creating controversy? Is it a desire for a quota in sports? I don't get it.
Why does the media bend over backwards to focus on baseball's 8% of blacks in the game when 40% of MLB players are non-white. That is the success of Jackie Robinson. Blacks, Latinos, Korean, Japanese....you name it, they are playing MLB. How proud Jackie must be that players from Cliff Floyd to Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Javier Valentin to Ichiro Suzuki are playing baseball.
What a great game. It's not just Americas game...it appears to be the worlds. MLB just set an attendance record for spring training. MLB will set break the regular season attendance record for the fourth straight year. What's wrong with that?
The media and players should be embarrassed to have missed or ignored those points......and cheapened Jackie's moment by using it for an agenda. What a shame.
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