From: grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Racism (was Re: Rickey Henderson v Nolan Ryan)
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:15:23 GMT
Article-I.D.: zariski.GRABINER.92Apr16181528
Organization: Harvard University Dept. of Mathematics
In-reply-to: zuhars@madrone.eecs.ucdavis.edu's message of 15 Apr 92 22:52:39 GMT

In article <12266@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>, Gary Avenue Of Shattered Skulls Huckabay writes:

> (Kevin Lund'y') writes:

>>I really can't believe this!  If this is a RELATED NOTE and you aren't  
>>accusing anyone on the net of being racist -- Why the hell do you mention  
>>it when comparing Rickey and Ryan as players?!?  Do you really have to  
>>bring up race?  Don't try to mess with the issue and bring unrelated  
>>topics in.

> Sorry, Kevin, but the issue of race, like it or not, is DEFINITELY an
> issue when it comes to Ryan vs. Henderson.

> Nolan Ryan is a white hero.  A true TWG.  He's humble, he's friendly
> and skillful with the media, and his exploits have been portrayed,
> over the past five years or so, in an extremely favorable light.

> Why?

> Part of the answer is because he's WHITE, whether you like it or not.
> His face will sell more razors than Rickey's will.  Nolan's public
> persona is that of a humble, hard-working, good-ole-boy white man.

> Rickey is portrayed as a malingerer, a whiner, and cocky.  Part of the
> reason for this is his background is different than Ryan's.  He
> learned to communicate in a black inner city, rather than white farm
> country.  Like or not, the communication patterns are different in
> those two areas, and to white bread America, Rickey's is more
> intimidating, and more accusatory.

> No one like the be called racist.  But racism is built into the
> system.

The way to challenge this is not to name a few black players who are
respected and whites who aren't.  Several people have done this, but it
isn't an argument.  And I don't question that there are some black jerks
out there, and white players who are great guys.  But I am claiming that
the labels many players get are due to racism.

For example, look at the players on the All-Troublemaker Team lists
(possibly excluding all players who are there only because of actual
criminal charges), and add the players you think have "attitude
problems", "haven't played up to their potential", and so on.  Now look
at the pictures.  How many of these players are black?  What fraction of
many major-league players are black?

You will be left with two possible conclusions: either black players are
more likely to be troublemakers, or they are no more likely to be
troublemakers but are more likely to be described as troublemakers by
sportswriters.  I prefer the second interpretation.

Remember that almost everything you know about baseball which happens
off the field is written by sportswriters, and that sportswriters are
human beings, with human faults (including, in many cases, a lack of
understanding of the game).  I'm not saying that there is overt racism,
but when a black player is "a great natural talent" and a white player
with the same stats is "a hard worker" (Trammell and Whitaker make an
excellent comparison here), you have to read between the lines.

--
David Grabiner, grabiner@zariski.harvard.edu
"We are sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary."
"Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again."
Disclaimer: I speak for no one and no one speaks for me.