Sporting News Radio: Won't be listening anymore

Usually, on weekends, I listen to late night broadcasts of Sporting News Radio and for quite a while it was a good show. This weekend though, the thoughts were tied to the racial divide in Sports. The idea that African-American males are somehow more involved in off-the-field incidents. Titans CB Adam 'Pacman' Jones, Falcons QB Michael Vick, Tank Johnson and even Giants OF Barry Bonds, were the usual suspects, along with Nuggets PG Allen Iverson.

Host Mr. Tim Montemayor propped up Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as guys that don't get into any trouble. Excuse me, but Peyton Manning certainly did not endear himself to Jamie Whited at the University of Tennessee as the link reflects. (She received a $300,000 settlement from U of T. Then sued Peyton again for defamation- settled again.)

Tom Brady? His ex-girlfriend, Bridget Moynahan, is pregnant alleged his child. Meanwhile, Tom Terrific is now dating another model/actress type Gisele Bundchen, even though he took 'the milk from the cow' and will be 'paying for it.' When your two best shining examples of white American sports athletes doing little wrong are both (past and present) flawed by legal-paternity issues, it reflects the ignorance of the broadcaster.

Over the course of 2 hours, Mr. Montemayor made comments like, "I'm not a racist," several times. In parroting a caller's comment of, "eating the scraps of White America," he continued to sound just the opposite of a racist.

When a caller mentioned Brett Favre's addiction to painkillers, Montemajor jumped all over the caller, because he did not mention his rehabiliation. This was after the caller mentioned the Allen Iverson was found innocent of his charges - and given short thrift by the media.

In one exchange, a well-spoken, knowledgeable caller, reflected how Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Ty Cobb, were by many, many accounts going against societal norms in their behaviors, whereas, Henry Aaron and Tiger Woods are by most accurate accounts, ambassadors of their respective games. This caller even reflecting how anti-social personalities exist accross both races. Mr. Montemayor gave him little time and changed his tone to one of boredom and apathy at the caller's comments, and cut him short.

As soon as someone agreed with 'Monty' that these black athletes are products of their environment and make poor choices, then he was happy to talk, berate and analyze using his vast knowledge base. His background from the North side of Chicago, near Wrigley Field, and his brother's police experience, certainly makes him an expert on the plight of African-Americans.

Montemayor spouted off on opportunity existing equally for everyone now. And that some racial profiling exists, but it is not a problem of great concern. (It's unconstitutional, that's all.)

Most of his program reflected a bigoted, biased and uneducated viewpoint on the racial barrier as it still exists. Just because African-Americans can now play baseball, football and basketball at the professional levels, does not mean its all ok and the world is now equal. (In 1946, a black man could not play MLB baseball. College basketball did not embrace an all-black team until 1966.)

To date, there has not been an African-American President or a female president. We've had only 1 Catholic President, and he was assassinated. Never had a Majority Leader of US House or Senator of African-American descendancy. And only in 2006 elections, did we finally have a female, Nancy Pelosi, named as the Speaker of the House. How many Supreme Court Justices have been of African American descent? Two. Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall. At this point, neither as the Chief Justice.

Mr. Montemayor's diatribe about the desparity in behavior (and presumed equality) based on race rings false. The behavior that rings true is how much of this nation is still fighting a war based on the color of their skin and not the reflections in their heart. We imprison African-Americans at approximately 4 1/2 times the rate of White Americans. 1 in 3 African American males have been imprisoned in their lifetimes. Is it because they commit crimes at 4.5 times the rate of whites? No!

They do get 4.5 times the attention in their neighborhoods by police and much, much less support by the community in making it a better place to live. People have heard of white flight because it exists.

In sports or life, why does it matter what color a person is. It doesn't. Why do we bring it up? Because it creates division and gives us a way to categorize a person to evaluate him or her, to stereotype him or her.

One question I'd like to ask Monty: If tomorrow, you woke up and had to choose, and you have to choose, between being of Asian, Mexican, Indian or African-American heritage, which would you choose? (He's White.)

The reason why I would ask is this: if race does not determine anything, it should not matter. But it does and it does make it much more difficult to succeed. I'm not saying it's impossible because a whole host of people have succeeded in overcoming this difficulty. BUT how many more would have reached success if biased and prejudice had not interfered and destroyed their confidence or taken away their unalienable rights?

I won't be listening to the Full Monty or SNR anymore. Because the Full Monty is full of shite.

Baseball & Society: Why It matters

I have received a comment or two on why people would not typically read what I post because their interests do not include baseball. I can understand that, being they are women, and sports seem mundane and related too much to testosterone. Well, here are a few reasons you should give professional baseball a looksie:

The founding of the oldest professional league took place in 1876. The centennial of this nation. The National League survived due to William Hulbert taking his business sense and strictness and showing little mercy for gamblers, players on the take and bad behavior.

Baseball turned into a profession shortly after the U.S. Civil War, but left behind men of color until 1947. Several black men played professional baseball (Weldy Wilberforce Walker, Moses Fleetwood Walker (see picture above) and George Stovey, for example) played up until 1887, when Adrian Constantine 'Cap' Anson , legend of the Chicago Cubs refused to play with black players. His racist example, led to a 60-year moratorium on equality for all players.

Baseball for over 80 years has merited antitrust exemption. In 1922, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, considered by many amongst the greatest Jurists in American History, wrote "baseball is a sport, not a business" and that baseball played across state lines was not "interstate commerce" and thus did not fall under the perview of regulation by the U.S. Revocation of this was still being bantered about in 2002. Baseball has been "redefined" over the years, even the stingy Phil K. Wrigley, said, "Baseball is most definitely a business." In 1950!

Baseball has produced plenty of greater writers, historians and novelists. Grantland Rice, Roger Kahn, George F. Will, Leonard Koppett, Sam Lacy, Wendell Smith, Lee Allen and Bill James are just a very few that have shaped the way baseball is viewed. They have plied their craft so well that their words resonate on until this very day.

In 1947, nearly a decade before the Civil Rights Era sprung to life under the small, but determined spirit of Rosa Parks, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson took the field and changed baseball. Jackie played four sports at UCLA, not including tennis, and was spirited to say the very least. He survived a court martial as a commissioned officer in the Army - a rarity once again - to just become the 1st black in sixty years to play in the Majors. He suffered through plenty of hardship and was treated uneven by his teammates and opponents alike. But his is the only MLB number retired on every team . (#42)

Free Agency. Though often misinterpreted as "baseball players getting rich" , free agency was a basic right all people in the workforce strive for. In baseball, for nearly 100 years, a player was attached to a team "for life" unless he retired or otherwise did not play. Owners had the option to never release a player and could pay him whatever the owner determined. (Unlike you and I, who can shop our services to the highest bidder...) Curt Flood started the ball rolling, when he refused a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. After writing a stirring letter (though legendary legal man Marvin Miller likely helped) to Bowie Kuhn, commissioner of baseball, Flood's case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, argued by former Supreme Arthur Goldberg, only to lose. However, within 4 years, his actions would gain traction and bear fruit for hundreds of MLB players.

These are only a few reasons to be interested in baseball. It is more than a sport, more than a pasttime, and more than just grown men hitting a ball around the field. It has influenced culture, legal issues, the backdrop of society's struggles and has kept its place through tumultuous times in America.

Andrew 'Rube' Foster Biography - April 22, 2007

Amongst the pioneers of baseball stand men that are rarely mentioned in the breath of MLB greats, but were no less important to the games development of ideas, promotions, history and ballplayers of equal to any white ballplayer discussed. Andrew ‘Rube’ Foster (1879-1930) is considered the founding father of the Negro National League. Foster’s nickname comes from the pitching defeat of Rube Waddell and the Philadelphia A’s in a1902 exhibition game, but his true on-the-field greatness comes from his consistent pitching for more than twenty seasons, his managerial virtuosity and origination of the first professional Negro League.

Amongst his contributions to the game, he is well known for:
1. The irascible, but ever-compelling, John McGraw[1] sought out his pitching and managing techniques;
2. Foster wrote about “how to pitch” in Sol White’s History of Colored Baseball and tutored greats such as Christy Mathewson and ‘Iron Joe’ McGinnity in the art of the fadeaway (screwball) by several accounts;
3. He was an entrepreneur in a time when blacks were held back socially and financially;
4. And he held together his league through a stern business sense.[2]

As Jerry Malloy points out in his introduction to Sol White’s History about Foster’s contributions to the game: “…Foster had a career that would rival in variety and magnitude the achievements of white baseball’s Al Spalding and Charles Comiskey combined, even serving as commissioner, unlike Spalding and Comiskey.”[3] An example of his keen management ability took place on August 22, 1923, when he employed his Chicago American Giants players to bunt over and over again to 3rd base in forcing Bob Miller to field the baseball unsuccessfully. This tactic won the game (11-5) after trailing going into the 7th inning by three runs.[4]
Foster’s founding of the Negro National League in February 1920 in Kansas City[5], with the first season starting in May 1920, came about during a revived healthy climate for all of professional baseball. (The emergence of ‘The Bambino’ after the Black Sox Scandal.) His ability to bring together those eight teams led to many firsts: playing games in Ebbetts Field, a Negro World Series and the quick formation of a rival league.
Within that first month, the Bacharach Giants were using Ebbetts Field to showcase their talents versus a white semi-pro team in sweeping a doubleheader. By July, two black teams, the Bacharach and Lincoln Giants, played again at Ebbetts before 15,000 fans with ace pitchers Smokey Joe Williams and Dick Redding putting on the show. [6] The first season ended with the Chicago American Giants, Foster’s team, winning the league and the replacement of the Dayton Marcos by a Columbus, Ohio team.

By the mid-1920’s the league attendance for eight teams, who owned or rented their own fields (aside from the Cuban All Stars who had no home games), totaled more than 4 million[7]. This in rivaling both the National and American Leagues in attendance. With that kind of fan rivalry, in late October 1923, the American Giants played the MLB Detroit Tigers in a three-game series, splitting two and calling one because of darkness. Both sides were missing key players – Ty Cobb, Cristobal Torriente and Oscar Charleston – but played on at Chicago’s Schorling’s Park.[8] This clearly reflects that good teams played regardless of color.
As Bill Hageman reports in Baseball Between the Wars, “...Giants manager John McGraw reportedly told Foster, ‘If I had a bucket of whitewash that wouldn’t wash off, you wouldn’t have five players left tomorrow.’”[9] An average squad of Negro Leaguers had between fourteen and sixteen players – under McGraw’s hatched plan – nine players would be of major league-caliber in the early1920’s when McGraw’s New York Giants were four-time World Series participators.

But it was Rube Foster that held together these teams with an energy that was beyond what many other men (white or black) would ever amass. Sadly, Foster succumbed to the pressures of holding together this league in 1926, with a ‘mental incapacitation’ from which he never recovered. (It is not a certainty why his ‘alleged violent episode’ would solely do this. But psychology was a different field in the 1920’s.) He died on December 9, 1930 while still in a Kankakee, Illinois mental institution. But his recognition as the ‘Father of the Negro Leagues’ is undoubtedly well earned and his legacy extended to the pinnacles of baseball immortality with his admittance to Cooperstown in 1981.

Table 2.4.1. Rube Foster’s 1920 Negro National League
Kansas City Monarchs
St. Louis Giants
Indianapolis ABCs
Chicago American Giants
Chicago Giants
Cuban All Stars
Detroit Stars
Dayton Marcos

[1] Neil Lanctot tells of a change of heart by John McGraw in the 1930’s (pg. 204) regarding blacks integration in baseball. McGraw’s death in 1934 is attributed to Uremia and leads to the clinical onset of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, muscle cramps, pruritus, mental status changes, visual disturbances, and increased thirst. These mental status changes came shortly before his passing would partly explain his vacillation on the issue.
[2] Loverro T. The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball. New York: Checkmark Books (Facts on File, Inc.); 2003. 98-99.
[3] White S, Malloy J. Sol White’s History of Colored Baseball, With Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886 – 1936. Lincoln, Nebraska: The University of Nebraska Press; 1995. xlii.
[4] Hauser Christopher. The Negro Leagues Chronology: Events in Organized Baseball, 1920 –1948. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc; 2006. 18.
[5] O’Neil B, Wulf S, Conrads D, Burns K. I Was Right on Time. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.; 1996. 76.
[6] Hauser Christopher. The Negro Leagues Chronology: Events in Organized Baseball, 1920 –1948. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc; 2006. 7.
[7] Loverro T. The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball. New York: Checkmark Books (Facts on File, Inc.); 2003. 99.
[8] Hauser Christopher. The Negro Leagues Chronology: Events in Organized Baseball, 1920 –1948. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc; 2006. 19.
[9] Hageman Bill. Baseball Between the Wars: A Pictorial Tribute to the Men Who Made the Game in Chicago From 1909 to 1947. Chicago: Contemporary Books; 2001. 54.