Racialicious Sports Roundup: MLB, Jayson Williams, Sean Taylor
by guest contributor Luke Lee
First things first. Of course, there is the expected bombshell unleashed in the MLB world from the Mitchell Report which implicated dozens of ballplayers for performance enhancing drug use. Notably, players such as Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettitte, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were named for violations ranging from steroids to human growth hormones. What’s interesting to read now are reactions to seeing Roger Clemens throw into the fold. We expect to see Bonds there (even now, there’s a separate article stemming from the report describing just how sneaky Bonds and conspirators must’ve been to never have been caught by the MLB) but to see in many ways the Brett Favre of the MLB put under suspcion leads some to say that “Baseball has its white Barry Bonds.”
Also in baseball news, there have been whispers about this for along time but it’s starting to catch wind on blogs and magazines. That is, the “Latinization” of the New York Mets by their GM Omar Minaya. It started with bringing in Pedro Martinez, then Carlos Beltran and then Carlos Delgado, throw in a historic late season meltdown and you have some very angry fans who I think are just starting to hold onto anything to blame. So what better to do then to stick to the old “you’re not playing enough of our boys!” (read: you need to play and sign more white players) approach? First i’ll state what I would hope to be the hugely obvious fact that when White GMs are signing, trading for, drafting, and building franchises around White ballplayers, nobody accuses them of racism. Well, actually, some Black ballplayers do but then they get ostracized by the media of being “angry” and just plain batshit Milton Bradley crazy. Jesus, look at the Oakland Athletics. They seriously have one of the Whitest teams in the entire MLB and yet Billy Beane gets praised for his shrewd trades and knowledge of the minor league farm systems. Secondly, almost every MLB franchise actively recruits in South America with farm system academies. They’re the ones going down there and putting dollars in for prospective talent while also maintaining the vast number of A, AA, AAA baseball teams in the states. So this whole “they’re taking our jobs!” suggestion is just getting tired.
And you thought you’d heard the last of Jayson Williams. Not “I will shoot all you Asian mother******* Jason Williams” but the guy who actually killed a guy Jayson Williams. Turns out that in the current retrial, a judge is reviewing evidence which includes the role of an investigating officer and the use of a racial slur by that officer. The Assistant Prosecutor was quick to point out that this was not the equivalent of, you know, Mark Fuhrman.
It’s been over two weeks since Sean Taylor’s death and a lot of articles, think pieces and rush-to-judgment columns have been written. At first, the media made it seem like the man deserved to die by talking incessantly about his troubled past. Then there was an interview with a friend of his that made it seem like he constantly lived in fear his whole life. A lot of folks I think are embarrassed and ashamed about how they and their news agencies handled this. Jim Trotter can explain it a lot better than I can.
If you took the time to read the Trotter piece, I think it’s worth reading the article also by SI about “ghetto loyalty.”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Paul wrote:
Great post. I think the issue in baseball is generational as well as racial. Most of the white writers who are excusing Petite and Clemens seems to be from the over 40 demographic. They see baseball as sacrosanct and icons along the lines of Mantle and Ruth. They also like the black and Hispanic players to behave like Mays or Clemente rather than Flood. Most younger writers and fans see baseball as just another sport and thus have less of a personal investment in its mythology.
Posted 18 Dec 2007 at 10:00 am ¶
tasha wrote:
First of all, great to see more sports coverage on this site. Luke, your writing under the premise that the playing field is level and that the reason why the Latin players are becoming more and more prominent is simply because of their aptitude, but in reality, the “Latinization” of baseball is more complex that that. Now, I’m not saying that whatever resentment the Latin players may or may not be receiving isn’t tinged with racism on some level, but what I am saying is that there is some truth to the “they’re (Latins) taking our jobs” theory, and not necessarily because of Latin American player’s talent, but because of politics and globalization. I’m also saying that resentment towards Latin players is misguided, when in fact, it’s MLB and franchise owners that have made the decision to outsource training and jobs, not the players themselves. But yes, the Latin players are more often than not, cheaper to sign and manufacture. I have relatives that play AAU baseball in Florida, and it’s not cheap, ok, at all. When you consider that their parents have to pay for them to receive the type of training that the kids in xyz Latin American country get for free or much less, and the fact, that unlike here in the States, MLB franchises are subsidizing those young hopefuls and telling American kids and their parents to fend for themselves, then you start to realize that the “Latinization” of baseball isn’t as miraculous or innocent as people would have you believe. Think about it. Japan is a baseball hothouse, so why aren’t there more Japanese ball players in MLB in comparison to the Latin players? Why, because the Japanese players are expensive, and MLB franchises have to pay Japanese ball clubs millions of dollars just to TALK to some of them.
Let’s get one thing straight. Baseball is not basketball. It’s actually more like gymnastics. Baseball, like gymnastics, is largely the domain of the middle class and where you go for coaching and training matters. Basketball is far more democratic and doesn’t discriminate along socio-economic lines the way that baseball does these days in the US, which is one of the reasons why you don’t hear stories about decreasing rates of participation in basketball among African Americans, the way you do in baseball. Also, the NBA hasn’t anointed any one group of people with money, coaching, and resources, the way MLB has done in Latin America, which is why it irks me when people think it’s some kind of odd coincidence that these Latin players are coming out of the woodwork, like they’re all so good because there’s something in the water there. OK, um . . .no.
Posted 18 Dec 2007 at 11:18 am ¶
G.D. wrote:
Tasha,
I’d never considered that there was an economic element to the numbers of Latin players in the majors; I’d always just chalked it up to some kind of fervor for that sport that isn’t true here in the U.S. But my opinion was intellectually lazy, because it doesn’t hold up to even the slightest scrutiny.
Thanks for setting me straight.
Posted 18 Dec 2007 at 8:44 pm ¶
Mike wrote:
Any one thinking that Clemens is going to catch fire like Bonds is fooling themselves.
Clemons will fade over time.
What is happening with bonds is a lynching.
From day one every move Barry has or not made has been leaked to the press by the DA, we had to wait for 62 players to get their names dropped.
Bonds is the only one going to court, not for using but for saying he did not know the stuff he is using was roids at the time.
Rafael Palmero got up in congress looked the every one in the eye pointed his finger, and said I do not do roids, than gets busted thea same year for the stuff.
Sammy Sosa all of a sudden forgot how to speak english so he couldnt answer questions.
And Mark McGwire takes the 5th all day.
Yet Bonds is going to court.
Gary Sheffield (another roider) already spoke about the easy to manage Latino ball players. He was heavy handed with it but if you look at it every word was true.
I cant fault GM Omar Minaya for padding the line up with latinoes. Which he is with out a doubt he is doing.
But if the Mets win who cares.
And more importantly with the growing latin community in this country let alone New York that is just good business.
The hype has not been about growing numbers of latin player at the expense of whites it has been about the dwindling number of black players in MLB.
Posted 19 Dec 2007 at 4:50 pm ¶
deb wrote:
I’m a Mets fan. I’ve been wondering when the fans would start to bitch and moan about the browning of the team. It’s no wonder that Mets Golden Boy, David Wright, is such a fan favorite. Sure, he’s a good player and stays out of trouble, but I can’t help thinking that fans see him as the Mets’ great white hope.
Wright power!
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 10:35 am ¶
cw wrote:
You would think the Atlanta Braves would try to mine some of the black wealth in that city by drafting or aquiring black players, but they rarely have more than one African-American on their team.
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 1:26 pm ¶
tasha wrote:
Alright, this is going to be long, and I was trying my best to avoid this Barry Bonds/MLB/ steroid issue, cause it did a number on my Thanksgiving. Educated, respected family men getting enraged at the table, 8,10, 12 year old children bickering with adults like they were grown, all over a “stupid game,” and no, I wasn’t above the fray either, even had a relative call me a sell out and try to disown me as family because of my stance on Barry Bonds. And you know it was hot because normally we really wouldn’t be talking about baseball, we’d be discussing what everyone in the South talks about this time of year, football (Go Hokies!). I don’t even want to go to Christmas dinner now that the Mitchell list is out. It’s just going to give certain relatives of mine ammo to suggest that the whole Barry Bonds thing was about race all along, and that’s not true.
Mike, you’re mixing up scenarios. For starters, Bonds steroid use is tied to the BALCO scandal, along with several other athletes. Barry Bonds wasn’t the only baseball player who’s name got leaked to the press when the scandal broke; he was just the highest profile player to be implicated because of his breaking the single year homerun record, previously broken several years earlier by Mark McGuire and because Bonds was on pace to become immortal by breaking Hank Aaron’s all time homerun record, arguably one of, if not they most sacred benchmark in MLB. Jason Giambi was also implicated, but he eventually copped to steroid use, while Bonds insists he’s innocent, despite the mounting circumstantial evidence to the contrary. Palmeiro, Big Mac, and Sosa haven’t been implicated in BALCO, probably because they were getting their performance enhancing drugs elsewhere, but see, Barry (if he “knowingly” did it, wink,wink) and co., they wanted that good shit, that designer stuff that some Olympians were using, a steroid that evaded detection until a whistleblower handed over a sample to the IOC, probably because they wanted to be extra careful, even though before BALCO, steroids weren’t illegal in MLB, and the athletes weren’t really randomly tested for them. MLB was too busy basking in the glow of the McGuire/Sosa homerun race and recovering from the strike which almost brought the league to its knees.
Bonds is being tried in an attempt to get him for the same thing they’re trying to get Marion Jones for, the same thing they got Martha Stewart on, which wasn’t even necessarily for insider trading or steroid use, but lying to the feds. All of those players who testified before congress and had possible shadiness to hide (Big Mac, Sosa), had no choice but to plead the fifth or give ambiguous answers to questions, because if they had given flat out denials that were later proven false, then they would be in court too, for lying to Congress.
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 1:33 pm ¶
tasha wrote:
Now technically it would be very hard to prove that Raphael Palmeiro lied to Congress, because he tested positive for steroids months AFTER he said under oath that he was never juicing. To prove that Palmeiro perjured himself you’d have to dig up evidence of performance enhancing drug use before he testified under oath. Bonds had already admitted that he “unknowingly” took performance enhancing drugs. Timing is everything. You can’t just disregard the fact that McGuire was retired when he testified on the Hill and that Bonds was still playing and chasing the homerun record while in the midst of being implicated in a federal drug investigation. Same with Clemens. Although there were unsubstantiated whispers about doping, the Rocket finished his career before the list came out. So, no, he isn’t going to be vilified like Bonds. What can they do to him anyway other than try to take his Cy Youngs back?
Truth is, we’re (fans) tired. This baseball steroid drama has been going on, arguably for over four years now. We spent all our energy on Barry, and Big Mac, and Jose Conseco, and Raphael Palmeiro wagging his finger only to later get caught and Sosa’s corked bat. I mean, what’s the point? Clemens isn’t playing anymore, and he isn’t in the hunt for any sacred MLB records, and he isn’t caught up in any federal investigations, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t going into retirement with his reputation in tatters or that he’s going to be a shoe in for the HOF. There’s a reason why Mark McGuire’s name wasn’t on the hall of fame ballot this year, despite his being eligible, namely because the blogisphere and sports radio lit up with all types of rage at the mere suggestion of McGuire getting into the Hall. There’s only player that could possibly work us up into a tizzy the way that Barry did if ever implicated in a steroid scandal while playing, and it isn’t because his surname is Rodriguez. However it would have something to do with his ginormous profile, his ridiculous contract despite his lackluster performances in the post season play, the team he plays for, his agent (who we all hate), among other things . . . , and he doesn’t need to be on roids for me to heckle him.
Alright, Garry Sheffield. Now, seeing him on the list was shocking. I mean, it really was, because he’s always insisted that he was never doping, and I believe him because he is a consummate veteran and professional and a class act that I actually respect, and though I didn’t completely agree with everything he was trying to say, I understood the context and the spirit of the remark and defended it. So, even though he’s on that list, Sheff gets the benefit of the doubt from me, because I’m willing to entertain the conspiracy theory of his possibly being blackballed because of his remarks.
Hey Deb, simmer down with that David Wright hatred (Tidewater/Chesapeake, VA represent)
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 1:39 pm ¶
SwungLow wrote:
Small consolation to this: pimping your story as a ‘roid whore doesn’t necessarily buy you any more juice with the publishers:
http://tinyurl.com/38cutr
I think this is how things should work…
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 6:14 pm ¶
Mike wrote:
tasha
Sorry, but you can not convince me that Bonds is not being targeted because of race and character.
There were no detail leaks about other players.
Yet the Feds were very much aware of who was who and who was doing what at the same time they were investigating Bonds.
The info we got about other player were guessing games by the media.
Bonds and Jones were not the only two players on that Balco list but they happened to be the most arrogant by media and fan standards.
Bonds has admitted that he used the stuff, so what is the bases for the trial?
That he said he did not know they were steroids?
A lame excuse but one hardly worth over three years investigation and millions of dollars in tax payers money.
When Jones finally admitted she did it, she did what the FEDS were looking for she got in front of the media and cried her eyes out, basically thowing her self on the mercy of the world.
That is what the Feds want, they want to humiliate Bonds.
It’s called putting them in their place.
Jones because of that display will no doubt get a light sentence. Yet she is in a sports were it is proven that roids willmakeyou better. A sport were cheating had a direct impact on her comp and robbed them of their glory.
Bonds took roids to pad his own stats in a sport that requires a lot more than muscles to win at.
No one can say his changed the game, cost some one a world series, or cost some one else millions of dollars because he was on the juice.
What they can say he may have gotten to the most overrated record in sports history quiker with the stuff.
Do you know how silly this sounds?
Victor Conte the producer, distributer, and sales men of the stuff got what amounted to probation. Yet Bonds may do 30 years in the clink.
That is like saying they busted a crack dealer in the crack house, with the crack, the guns, the money, in the middle of a sale. And what do they do?
They let the dealer walk and throw the crackhead under the jail!
Who are they kidding?
Not me.
Bonds has become the poster boy for juice and while his collegues walk he will get pinned to the cross for their sins.
Posted 21 Dec 2007 at 10:31 am ¶
Mike wrote:
Bonds is going to the HOF his career prior to the juice established that.
McGuire and Sosa’s whole career was based off home runs. That ties into the juice.
If you can not get Palmeiro for saying he never used the stuff and than getting caught, how the heck can you go after Bonds for admitting it but say he didnt know what they were?
That is selective prosecution.
Sheffield has stated prior to the list coming out that he used the samething that Bonds used but stopped because he felt that it did not work. He also gave the excuse that he did not consider it steroids because to him that is something you inject.
He gets a pass because he never denied what he did.
Posted 21 Dec 2007 at 10:40 am ¶