Who Knew?
Some things mentioned in Michael Wilbon's article today, "Still Seeing Things In Black or White," were brought to my attention for what I think is the first time:
"Personally, while I don't dislike Bonds, I'm suspicious of him and suspicious of his home run total. I believe absolutely that he used steroids and have no inclination to celebrate any home run marks he surpasses, and feel the same way about Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and everybody else who has given us reason to be suspicious.
And where does race enter the picture?
Bonds probably didn't play on a level playing field.
And Babe Ruth, who only had to play against white players, didn't play on one either.
Baseball enforced a policy that cheated men of color for 60 years, and allowed cheating to create this new suspicion over the last, oh, 15 years.
Still, it's impossible to examine any of this without looking at race. There's even irony here involving Ruth. As Leigh Montville writes in his new book "The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth," his first nickname was contracted from "Nigger Lips" to "Nigger" to "Nig," and that's simply what Ruth was called every day for years."
"Personally, while I don't dislike Bonds, I'm suspicious of him and suspicious of his home run total. I believe absolutely that he used steroids and have no inclination to celebrate any home run marks he surpasses, and feel the same way about Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and everybody else who has given us reason to be suspicious.
And where does race enter the picture?
Bonds probably didn't play on a level playing field.
And Babe Ruth, who only had to play against white players, didn't play on one either.
Baseball enforced a policy that cheated men of color for 60 years, and allowed cheating to create this new suspicion over the last, oh, 15 years.
Still, it's impossible to examine any of this without looking at race. There's even irony here involving Ruth. As Leigh Montville writes in his new book "The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth," his first nickname was contracted from "Nigger Lips" to "Nigger" to "Nig," and that's simply what Ruth was called every day for years."
Me: Babe Ruth's nickname was "Nig"? Word?
"Lieb reported that Ty Cobb refused to share a cabin with Ruth at a Georgia hunting lodge because he thought Ruth was black."
"So did Negro leaguers talk about Ruth's race? Did they think he was, well, one of them, another light-skinned Negro passing for white, which is something 99 percent of white folks know absolutely nothing about?"
Me: Word? Gangsta.
posted by Aristocrates at 10:30 AM
2 Comments:
So I read the article, and I kind of wish that there was somewhat more of a conclusion come to than there actually was, however, I suppose I should expect that, being that it's a short newspaper article, and not a book. It is intriguing, as this is the first time I've encountered this idea as well. I suppose it's become one of those things we'll never know and can only speculate, but I would also imagine that, if it were true, it would be one of those things America, and Baseball, would not be ready for.
What's the debate, it's no secret Baby Ruth's are made of chococate
Post a Comment
<< Home