Interesting topic for discussion

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Oct 14, 2008 10:35 PM EDT Comment 39 comments

This article, courtesy of Ken Rosenthal. Interesting read, although by my brief count it appears that nearly 1/2 the roster is non-white, so I'm not sure it's totally accurate. He names Kevin Youkilis as white, which he is, but he's also a rarer breed than African-American ballplayers, a Jewish ballplayer. I believe there are only a handful of Jewish ballplayers in MLB.

Reading the article, it struck me, while there certainly is a lack of African-American players on the team, many ethnic groups are represented.

Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting read and thought I'd post it to see if anybody had any reactions to it one way or the other.

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you can talk about this from a variety of perspectives

but i have a hard time believing it will effect any FA decisions

and as you point out, some of these distinctions are sorta odd in the first place

by royalsreview on Oct 14, 2008 11:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The City Of

Boston and its sports franchises have long been accused of white bias, and at least in the past it has appeared to be true. I haven’t researched or thought about the current situation, but think about it; Wes Welker? Jacoby Ellsbury? Larry Siegfried? Coincidence? I think not!

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Oct 15, 2008 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no white FAs by the red sox til '93

thats insane

by royalsreview on Oct 15, 2008 1:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also...

weren’t the Red Sox the last MLB team to break the color barrier?

by Deaner on Oct 15, 2008 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes

Because of their racist owner Tom Yawkey (Hall of Famer!). I don’t think it has much to do with the fans.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not only is Youkilis the rare Jewish player

Jacoby is the even MORE rare (part) Navajo player.

Kansas City Royals: your 2006 and 2007 NL Central champions!

by mazoboom on Oct 15, 2008 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

wasn't johnny damon also part native?

by royalsreview on Oct 15, 2008 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Native caveman

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why even make the distinction

on ‘Jewish’ ballplayers. Jewish isn’t a race, it is a religion.

Does anybody give 2 sh*ts how many catholic or athiest ballplayers there are?

by GoBabies!! on Oct 15, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

dayton moore and hillman do

ok… just kidding, i think

by royalsreview on Oct 15, 2008 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

there are no atheists in the batter's box

The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future. - Collected sayings of Muad'Dib

by buddyball on Oct 15, 2008 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

its funny you say that. I remember when I was in little league, I started crossing myself when I got in the batters box (I can’t remember who used to do it. I think it was Julio Franco, I was a BIG Julio Franco fan in the late 80’s, early 90’s). My parents asked me what I was doing, I didn’t know what it meant, I just was emulating my ‘heroes’

by GoBabies!! on Oct 15, 2008 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or Mormons?

http://www.famousmormons.net/baseball.html

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

there are ethnic jews

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 15, 2008 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

sort of

There are also chinese jews, black jews, etc…

If a white guy is christian, does that make him an ethnic christian?

by GoBabies!! on Oct 15, 2008 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And Brian Scalibrine!

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Oct 15, 2008 1:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hate these kinds of stories.

I have said many times on this site that race, religion, or any other thing does not matter. The Red Sox get the best players they can regardless of race and they do well with them. They had to trade Ramirez and getting Bay is not bad. Sounds like the author rather Boston teams add some black players no matter what and doing that is just not good for business, which is to win games. If the Royals could field a team composed of 1 white, 4 Latinos, 10 South Africans, 5 Indians, and 5 Koreans and win the World Series 2 years in a row some people would still say, they do not have enough "———’. Fill in the blank of the race or color of your choosing. By the way I would root just as hard for that team as the current Royals.

by TXroyal on Oct 15, 2008 1:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ask Jim Rice

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Oct 15, 2008 1:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Coco Crisp

must be white chocolate.

Accidentally not thedude925 anymore. I do hate this new name.

by wildthang on Oct 15, 2008 1:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Oct 15, 2008 1:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Embracing their fan base

I guess that the Red Sox feel that they getstrong enough fan support from old white New Englanders that they don’t need to appeal or connect to African Americans or Hispanics or whoever else.

by Deaner on Oct 15, 2008 8:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How did this sentence slip by?

I have no idea how the following sentence slipped by The Site Formerly Known As Royals Nightly:

The question is not whether the Red Sox are turning away from blacks and Latins; in recent years, they have parted not only with high- profile Dominican stars such as Ramirez and pitcher Pedro Martinez, but also high-profile white players such as outfielder Johnny Damon and pitcher Derek Lowe.

How long must we sing this song?
How many times must we fall prey to the same traps as our forefathers, and their fathers, and their fathers’ fathers?

http://royalsnightly.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_archive.html

When you Google “Johnny Damon ethnicity”, your first thought should be “Royals Nightly”, and your second thought should be “part Thai”.

by wentToARoyalsGameBeforeRR on Oct 15, 2008 10:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Also

Ted Williams’ mom was Mexican!

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

...and he sure loved here...

[/sarc]

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by devil_fingers on Oct 15, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

interest in Johnny Damon's ethnicity/race was rampant

in the mid 00’s

funny that i had actually forgotten what it was

by royalsreview on Oct 15, 2008 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

sure loved HER

His dad left the family when he was a kid. Later, when asked about it, Williams said something like, “If I was married to a woman like that, I would have left, too.”

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by devil_fingers on Oct 15, 2008 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember thining about this at an Astros game a few years ago

I thought that 75% of the guys on the roster were white boys from Texas. Everyone except ,like, Wandy Rodriguez and Preston Wilson. Now they have Carlos Lee, so everything’s fine, right?

Kansas City Royals: your 2006 and 2007 NL Central champions!

by mazoboom on Oct 15, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The only time I have ever heard of race imacting free agent decisions

Was Torii Hunter. And I would bet that race was a big backseat to money and competitiveness of the franchise.

OTOH, I do think it would be cool if the Royals had more African-Americans on their roster than any other team, simply because of the significance of Kansas City for African-American baseball. But above all, I want the 25 guys that can best help us win, regardless of skin color.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 10:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This story comes out every once in a while with regard to other sports

especially basketball.

I read this, but didn’t really like Rosenthal’s take. He just doesn’t go deep enough, and on the topic of race relations in contemporary America, that’s just not good enough. I’m not going to say it’s irresponsible, but it’s not a very smart way to go about th ings.

Having said that, while I think Boston is a great city, one thing I do like about pieces like this is that it puts certain people in their place. White liberals [and I’ve been one for most of my life] love to take the opportunity to say that other white people are racist. It makes us feel justified before God/Allah/Al Sharpton. For example, I wouldn’t be surprised if this pissed off the Sports Guy. He loves to talk about how the NBA isn’t more popular because White Middle America is racist… but then freaks out when anyone talks about Boston’s history of racism, especially with regard to sports. He actually said in a podcast a while back that Pedro and Dee Brown (!) made a big change.

What I mean is, sometimes the liberals on the coasts need to be taken down a peg or two when preaching to the rest of us about what horrible racists we are… Particularly when the school busing fights of the 1970s and 1980s were the most vicious in Yonkers and Boston.

sorry for the politics…

[/grumpiness]

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by devil_fingers on Oct 15, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Totally agree

He begins with a provacative thesis, implying perhaps that Boston management is racist, or isn’t proactive enough in getting African-American player, then buried in the article says that they’re not racist, and he doesn’t know why there aren’t more African-American players.

Its like saying “I think your wife is cheating on you. I don’t have any evidence, and she might not be, I’m just sayin.”

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 15, 2008 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs