From: kohout@cs.umd.edu (Robert Kohout)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Morgan vs Sandberg
Keywords: Morgan, Sandberg
Date: 28 Jan 93 00:38:37 GMT
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742

In article <1k68udINNm82@lynx.unm.edu> kbos@carina.unm.edu (K. Mitchell Bose) writes:
>
>No, that isn't it at all.  Sandberg gets _press_ because he's white.  In this
>country, the majority of Americans (white) are more comfortable seeing a white
>player than a black player, especially in baseball.  It isn't overt racism by
>any means, but rather a simple case of white Americans being able to identify
>more readily with a white superstar than a black superstar.  It isn't _my_ 
>personal view, or anything _I_ believe.  If anyone's racist, it's the media.

This is a gross over-simplification, and while it "makes sense", it needs
a lot of hemming and hahing to fit the fact. Consider:

1) Ernie Banks was and, to a large extent, still is "Mr.Cub". What color
is Ron Santo. Granted, Ernie was the far better player, but what about
the player identification business?

2) In St.Louis, I think the "most popular player on the team" over the
   last 25 years, has been, going back chronolocially, Ozzie Smith,
   Ted Simmons, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. We can argue about this forever,
   but if you're one of those people who find racial bias in the fact that
   Simmons was preferred over, say, George Hendrick, I'd suggest you;ll
   find it a lot of places where it's not.

3) In all my years in Chicago (roughly 76-89), I never saw a player more
   abused by the press than Dave Kingman, who's biggest fault (besides
   playing baseball like Dave Kingman), was that he didn't like talking
   to the press. Bo Jackson, on the other hand, happens to have numbers
   that are frighteningly like Kingman's, but the Chicago media likes
   to pretend he'd be a Hall of Famer if not for the hip. While we're
   at it, the Cubs made a lot of bad moves in that time, and two of the
   most universally detested were Bill Madlock for Bobby Murcer et.al,
   and Lee Smith for Calvin Schiraldi et.al. And Andre Dawson (who
   commands a ton of respect in Chicago as well), wasn't the only person
   who groused when the Cubs gave up Palmiero for Mitch Williams,
   when it was clear that Texas would've taken Grace.

4) I'd be willing to bet that Roberto Clemente is still the idol of 
   thousands of Pirates fans. He definitely was when I spent some
   summers there in the 70's. Granted, Andy Van Slyke is no where
   close to the player that Barry Bonds is, and has a disparate
   share of popular support. Does this HAVE to imply racism? Or do
   you think Barry might have said some things he regrets?

5) Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco both get more hype than Mark
   McGwire. I can't say who's more popular in the Bay area, but from
   this distance, it looks like McGwire's a poor third.
6) Isn't Kirby Puckett the most popular player in baseball?


I agree that Sandberg is overbilled, but so were Willie McGee and 
Vince Coleman. Ryno just happens to be the best player on a big
media team, and Harry Caray has some kinda crush on him. For my
part, I grew up trying to play like Lou Brock and we're, uh, different
colors.

What I think it "boils down" to is this: it ain't simple. And while
I'm sure race has it's influence, I don't think it's anywhere near as
pervasive as you make it out to be in this respect.

Bob Kohout
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball