Crying wolf
Bronx Banter’s Will Weiss is my favorite of the columnists over there; today, he takes on The Sheffield Thing. It’s a good piece, but I take some issue with one of his main points, namely that the New York media didn’t pay enough attention to the story: “Overall, I found the local coverage to be lacking in depth. It was as if the writers were tired of conjuring stories and dealing with more Sheffield blather.”
I think Weiss answers his own question here. I can’t say that Joe Torre isn’t a racist, or that the Yankee organization isn’t racist — I don’t get the sense that they are, but I’m not in a position to say. I can say that every other time Sheffield has shot his mouth off means he won’t be taken terribly seriously this time. And that’s a shame, because it’s a topic that’s worth examining, particularly in light of Barry Bonds’s home-run totals at the moment. This is not something that baseball romantics like to think about, that this problem isn’t fixed, that Jackie didn’t fix it and take us all off the hook for it, and I’m not excluding myself from that assessment, either; I love the game, but at times I just want to love it and not have it be complicated.
But baseball exists in the world, and we can’t pretend it doesn’t. The issue here is that Gary Sheffield is not a credible whistle-blower, because he is a horse’s ass. It’s not that he’s not telling the truth. It’s that he’s told his truth so many times now, nobody cares to hear it anymore. Kenny Lofton, same type of problem — it’s difficult to tie your benching to racial discrimination when it looked a lot more like discrimination against a below-.200 average, which you happened to be sporting at the time, and your job was handed to another minority, which it was (Bernie).
I miss Sheffield. I miss the way he would come up to the plate, regard his bat like it was Excalibur, and settle into the batter’s box with that “I am going to FUCKING KILL SOMEONE RIGHT NOW” look on his face. That guy came up to hit, and if he couldn’t hit a ball (and most of the time, he could, and how), he’d just hit any old thing nearby — potted plant, your mother, whatever — and I liked that about him, that rage. And I also sort of liked how he would spout off, because most of the Yankees know better than to do that; it’s a very corporate, managed clubhouse, usually, in terms of postgame reactions and stuff, and I love me some Jetes, but he is the dullest, most Mad-Libs-y interview in the world. Sheffield was not afraid to be like, “Batting A-Rod eighth is dumb and wrong and everyone’s a jerk but me,” and it’s like, not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou, but at least he’d put it out there. I mean, hell, batting A-Rod eighth didn’t work. Might as well say so. Mostly I miss his bat. I know clutchness is mostly an illusion but it seemed like he always got it done close and late. And the occasional tactless explosion kept things interesting.
This is a little different, though, because this is a larger issue that affects people besides Gary Sheffield, and since Gary Sheffield has zero experience with such issues, it’s not ideal for him to be the one directing the discussion, in my opinion. But someone should, because Bonds is going to hit 756 soon, and we can talk about it or not but it’s still going to be there.
Sheffield was a tool on the Dodgers, Brewers, Marlins, Padres, Braves and Yankees, and it comes as no surprise he’s still a tool on the Tigers I agree that he was a great hitter, but man is he a jerk. Oh, and I like how he pointed out Jeter’s lack of street cred cause he’s “black and white”. And how there’s more Latinos in baseball than blacks because “they’re easier to control, cause you can send them back to their islands”. Whatever, Blackie McReverseRacist.
Not completely on topic, but as a Philly gal I must just point out: GO PHILLIES!! LOSINGEST TEAM EVER OF ALL TIME!!!!
And yes, multiple exclamation points are called for in this instance. In fact let’s have MORE!!!!!!!
Any words of consolation for us Philadelphia fans, Sars?
Sheffield does indeed shoot his mouth off a great deal, but man am I glad to have him in Detroit, so I have to be honest and say that I’ve been tuning it right out.
As a matter of fact.
1. It could be worse. You could be Philadelphia A’s fans.
2. http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2007/07/espno.html. Number of losses doesn’t really tell you anything (vs. losses as percentage of games played) except that the franchise is quite old. The Mets won’t have nearly as many losses, but after the 55-105 records they compiled in the first few years of the franchise, their overall losing percentage is likely to be much higher.
You know, as you said, Sheffield keeps telling the truth. MLB and owners do have more power over the non-US born Latino players – something Shef’s teammates like Ordonez were happy to agree with. And on a day when a poll is released showing that I’m one of only 34% of white folks who want Bonds to break the record, in contrast to the wow higher percentage of African-Americans (55%) who root for Bonds, yeah.
Speaking of Fire Joe Morgan, my friend’s favorite entry of theirs ever is a short one that points out the constant, repetitive ways that black and white ballplayers are described. Which, darn, I do not have at my fingertips.
Oh, I hit submit – but I swear, I was thinking this week and last, I really wanted to email the Vine and ask a baseball question as I’ve missed the awesome baseball content on Tomato Nation this season.
Have you ever seen Sheffield’s interview on Kay’s show Centerstage? It was done, if I recall, in the off-season between his 1st and 2nd years in pinstripes.
One of the things that struck me during it was Sheffield’s deep, deep, insecurity. Sure, he covers it up with a street thug’s bravado and blustery charm, but he is no less needy than Ol’ Purple Lips. All he wants is to be loved and admired. (He went on and on about how great Torre was, too.)
But I loved him at the bat. Pitchers always looked a little afraid of him. And god help the 3rd-base coach.
Best. Use of the term “horse’s ass.” EVER.
Sars, I totally agree that Shef always seemed to get it done close and late, even though I am a Jamesian at heart and don’t believe in Clutchness. Last year, if I could only choose one person in the Yankee lineup to get a job done, it would be Sheff every time. And yes, he ‘s an ass, but he’s always kept things interesting.
k: I’ve seen that statistic (the disparity between black and white when it comes to Bonds) and I personally have struggled with comprehending it. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m one of the whitest white girls there are, but I still can’t see why anyone would want someone who is largely suspected of steroids, regardless of race, to break the record of someone who is so obviously a hero. Hank Aaron struggled through a very painful, threatening period of his life because of his race- he should be a revered figure in sports for having overcome the rampant racism that affected him, rather than shoved aside by a steroid controversy and an asterisk.
Also, Sheffield is crazy. But he’s kind of fun-crazy if he’s on your team. Buster Olney had some interesting things to say about the way Torre manages–during rough times, he likes to call out stars like Jeter and Sheff that he thinks can take the heat, as an example for the rest of the team.
Yeah, we’re glad to have him in Detroit, and he’s far less embarrassing than the Lions, so there’s that.
What I like about Sheffield is how he reacted to that slump he was in during the first part of the season. He didn’t go around assigning blame, and he didn’t pout (too much), and he didn’t act like we were lucky to have His Wonderfulness no matter how crappy his performance was (see: Gonzalez, Juan). He was mad. Every time he got to the plate and struck out or flied out, you could see he was frustrated, he was disappointed, and he would have punched himself in the face if that had been a viable option. I think we were patient with him because it was so obvious that he wanted to do well, and felt bad for not doing it.
And then he figured out the whole DH thing and started actually hitting to get on base instead of walking, and stealing bases, and we love him now. Besides, Neifi Perez just got suspended for using greenies — this? This is nothing.
This reminds me of what my friend refers to as the “Paul Konerko factor.” For years, White Sox fans have deified Paul Konerko–a quiet, lovable white guy–while being largely indifferent (or even openly hostile) to Frank Thomas–a big, angry black guy–despite the fact that Thomas is arguably the best hitter to ever play for the team. This was particularly apparent in the late 90s & early ’00s, when Big Frank was striking fear in the hearts of pitchers all over the AL (and his average was at least .100 higher than Paulie’s). The current manifestation of this is the fact that keeps-to-himself, World Series MVP Jermaine Dye gets basically no love while AJ Pierzynzki is adored (not that AJ isn’t a huge asset to the team, but I really believe, if their behavioral patterns were reversed, Dye would be run out of town).
On the Northside, of course, you see the same pattern in the dozens of Kerry Wood & Mark Prior jerseys in the stands for every Carlos Zambrano one. I really, really believe he would’ve been declared the second coming in Wrigleyville a long time ago if only his name were Charlie Zambrowski.
I ADORE reading your stuff about baseball. You manage to relay so much more than just the black-on-white, and your descriptions are always perfect. Love it!
I used to mail your baseball articles to my Grandad before he passed away a year or so ago, and he always got a charge out of them, too. Now I mail them to my Grandma, even though she could really give a crap about baseball, but she loves your writing, so she’s asked me to keep up the dispatches (computers are WAY beyond her scope).
It’s always aggravating when someone has a valid point – or even just potentially valid – and their personality or previous behavior takes center stage. I guess you could call it Michael Moore Syndrome – some valid points, but everything winds up being about the invalid points or his latest marketing stunt. Sheffield has long since shot himself in the foot, so it’s inevitably about his douchey behavior instead of any good points he raises.
I’ll admit that I cringed when my Tigers traded for Sheffield in the offseason. I did it again when I went to Lakeland for a preseason game against the Red Sox, and Shef went 0-3 with 2 Ks, all the while shooting his mouth off to every reporter who would listen about God know’s what, and (yet) again in the early part of this season, when he was hitting a princely .190-something. 23 homers, 19 stolen bases, and a .297 average later, I could not care less about what happens when he opens his mouth, so long as he keeps bashing the hell out of the ball.
As you said Sars, the guy can hit the ball (and how!). A home run for a right handed hitter in a park with Comerica’s dimensions is nothing to sneeze at. It has to go more than 350 to comfortably reach the bullpen, and the stands are 400 feet from the plate. He’s been reaching the seats pretty consistently.
Would it be easier on his teammates and Tigers fans if he just shut up? Yeah, but he’s doing enough on the field that I couldn’t care less what he’s got to say.
Elizabeth- I agree on all points.
Drew- My husband and I had the same doubts. We sat through two training games, watched Sheff suck, and thought “We’re hanging our hopes on HIM?! Way to go, guys”. I think I even said the Yanks could have him back in a comment on this very site.
I humbly take that back, now, and I even kinda love him in a weird way. I love that he wasn’t hitting anything, got pissed, fixed it, and is now hitting like a maniac. I also love that adding him to the line-up has somehow set our bats on fire, something that was a huge problem for us last year. I also love his brand of crazy, and I don’t know why. The Jeter “he’s not all black” comment didn’t piss me off, it made me laugh out loud. And the Tigers’ latino players stepped up and supported his comments, which says something. He may be an ass, but he’s a crazy ass, and he’s our ass, now.
Yesterday, when I read this, I was thinking that Atlanta does not particularly miss Sheffield or Kenny Lofton.
However, having spent the last 16 hours hearing about nothing but Michael Vick (the indictment’s on Smoking Gun, though I recommend you not read it if you are not near your dogs to hug them), I reverse my position. Sheff may come back and complain all he likes if he is willing to play for the Falcons.
K, I think this is the post you’re looking for: http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2005/06/redux-redux.html Be sure to check out the comments, too.
at least 756 won’t come against Cubs pitching. Heh.
Hey, I thought I was the whitest white girl who ever did white! And yet, seriously, I’m in that 34% who want Bonds to break the record. And I tend to turn to incoherent about this subject. Did you see this article in Hardball Times: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/treating-barrynoia/ ? I don’t agree with all of it, but he makes some excellent points about how consistent and how long Barry has been good. Also, at the end of this Fire Joe Morgan post (http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2007/01/earth-people-we-are-officially-through.html), the author runs through a numbered list of some things he knows which kinda hit my “sorry, I can not buy steroids as some massive moral failings of our time concentrated in the person of Barry Bonds, and Barry Bonds only” thing,
And as to why I can root for Barry and not particularly be bothered by steroids, I agree with Keith Law (interview here: http://lioninoil.blogspot.com/2007/06/lio-interviews-espns-keith-law.html) ‘and as a fan, I really don’t give a Juan Pierre whether or not these guys used steroids or HGH or horse tranquilizers or whatever. The steroid “scandal†is about 90% media sanctimony’ – and I’d add, the press hated Barry long before they had steroids to bitch him out about.
I don’t judge anyone who used steroids in baseball before 2004. What would you do to keep a job that earned you $300,000 a year? (Which is actually less than MLB minimum this year.) Or $1 million or higher? Bill James just gave an interview where he compared steroid use to traveling in basketball – something no one really punished and so it flourished. To me, it’s the moral equivalent of jaywalking. Buck O’Neil’s been quoted saying that the only reasons players in his day didn’t use steroids is that they didn’t have them. And since I sincerely doubt the only steroids user in the history of ever ever in baseball was Barry Bonds and possibly Sammy Sosa and maybe two other guys (I’ve heard numbers as high as 70%), I just can’t see it as cheating. (Again, this is pre-league wide testing. Once they were enforcing it, fine. But Barry’s apparently tested clearn since then, so.)
Wow, that was a long answer. I’m sorry.
I think what MB terms the Konerko factor is alive and well. It is a less virulent form of racism, but it is still racism.
It is worth examining how someone becomes a Sheffield, a Terrell Owens, a tool, a malcontent. I can’t think of very many white guys who achieve it (John Rocker and Jeremy Shockey?) and that HAS to mean something. When a black man is angry/outspoken/mouthy it is heard differently, reported differently, reacted to differently. Which isn’t to say Sheff is a great guy, or Owens is simply misunderstood.
I do think Sheffield’s remarks weren’t taken seriously. Part of that is his reputation. Part of that is that the Yankees are so respected that nobody wants to think it might be true.
But Sheffield is damn good at his job, and this year he’s on MY TEAM. But I still say he’s got the ugliest damn swing in the majors.
“When a black man is angry/outspoken/mouthy it is heard differently, reported differently, reacted to differently. Which isn’t to say Sheff is a great guy, or Owens is simply misunderstood.”
There’s a chicken/egg question here, I believe, too. Insert the usual disclaimers here about how I’m whiter than mayo so what do I know, but you have to wonder how much of that anger, sometimes, is a function of racial inequality (or the perception thereof) to start with.
In the Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James has a long comment on Dick Allen’s effect on his teams; it starts out as a discussion of intangibles, and when we point to a player’s “leadership abilities,” can we do the same thing on the negative side. The part that comes to mind now, though, is when James is talking about how Allen is sometimes excused for his divisive behavior on the grounds that he’d faced really ugly institutional racism as a younger player, and possibly in response to his behavior as a major-leaguer.
James pretty much blows this off as a rationale, saying that many other African-American stars of the era faced the same ugliness, if not worse, and didn’t act out the way Dick Allen did. And a part of me agrees with this conclusion — that it’s also racism, in a way, to not hold a man accountable for being, basically, a dickhead based on the fact that he’s a man of color. Look at him as a man first and a black man second, in other words.
But another part of me wonders if these other stars didn’t behave better than Dick Allen *because* they felt that even a single instance of lippiness coming from a black man would boomerang on them in a way that it wouldn’t with the white players — that they felt they *weren’t* going to be judged as men first and black men second. And it’s not like they wouldn’t have had grounds for feeling that way. Some of the death threats Hank Aaron received…it’s shocking to me. But it wouldn’t have been shocking to him. And you have to wonder how it would have been received if, even once, he’d been like, “You know what, let’s see you Klan fucks try to hit a Steve Carlton slider before you talk shit. I’m trying to do a job out here so get bent.” You have to wonder if white America wouldn’t have been a little put off by that. I don’t know the answer, but you have to figure that Aaron assessed the situation and was like, that’s not going to play in Peoria, so I’ll just keep my head down and get this record and then they’ll all have to kiss my ass.
Hank Aaron handled himself the way Hank Aaron thought was right; he’s not Dick Allen, Allen isn’t Sheffield, Sheffield isn’t Barry Bonds. But it’s difficult to get the truth with The Sheffield Thing, because on the one hand, he has historically said enough outrageous shit that he’s now not taken seriously…but what about the idea that he says outrageous shit *because* he’s not taken seriously and he’s fed up? Which came first?
Speaking of things that came first, sort of tangentially moving to another subject: people sometimes forget that Barry Bonds was already spoken of as a first-ballot Hall of Famer 15 years and three hat sizes ago. I think steroids is a big problem, but I also think it wouldn’t kill MLB to approach said problem with some nuance, starting with this one — steroids will not make a journeyman into a superstar. Barry Bonds was not Rafael Santana. He was always Barry Bonds. Mark McGwire was not Kevin Elster. He was always Mark McGwire. This was not a frail individual; he did not slap singles. He hit 40-odd home runs his rookie year, something like that? And this was in the eighties; hitting 30 a year got you a cleanup-spot job. The issue, to me, is that exactly how much of an advantage steroids will give a player is unclear, and that therefore you don’t always know what you’re looking at in terms of the stats.
This comment is longer than my original entry, I think. Anyway.
McGuire hit 49 home runs his rookie season, Sars. I think I mentioned that on this site around the time he got shut out of the Hall of Fame this year. 20 years later (now I’m seriously dating myself), it still stands as a rookie record. Frankly, I think that even absent steroids in his well-balanced breakfast, Mac probably would have gotten close to where he got with them.
I can’t say whether or not Sheffield is full of it on this count. I’m not in a position to judge what goes on backstage at the Yankees. As far as Bonds is concerned, I think that the response to him breaking the record has nothing to do with his race, and that steroids is a convenient excuse for the media to bash him. What it comes down to is that Barry is an unpleasant person. He’s shown himself time and time again to be a raging asshole. That’s why no one wants him to break Hank Aaron’s record – he’s a jerk. It’s convenient for the media to choose steroids as the factor that disqualifies him, but only because it is so blatent and obvious. There’s a lot more to this, obviously, but most of it has been said, so I’ll leave that alone.
As for The Konerko Factor…. I personally can’t stand Paul Konerko, if for no other reason than he seems to be the opposite of clutch. His numbers might be ok (though the whole team is in the toilet at the moment), but when it comes down to the line, Pauly frequently can not deliver. White Sox fans do tend to diefy him, and I couldn’t tell you why, but to say that Frank Thomas was ignored or deemed irrelevant in Chicago is just nuts.
Personally, I loved the Big Hurt, and was pissed when they traded him. Ozzie Guillen just didn’t like him, and wanted him out of the clubhouse, but the fans were definitely behind Frank. I was at the game last year when Frank came back and played for the first time in Chicago on the A’s. His first at-bat, he hit a home run and the fans in Chicago gave him a standing ovation. Of course, we were much less enthusiastic when he did the same thing at his second at-bat. But you can’t say that he was not on the radar, because he definitely was a fan favorite. You don’t see Cleveland fans cheering Thome when he plays at home, and granted, he left under different circumstances, but Chicago appreciated Frank.
As for Jermain Dye and AJ, Dye is a quieter player. It isn’t in his nature to act like AJ does, so I don’t think you can compare the two. AJ is the sort of player that you love while he’s on your team and you hate when he’s not. He’s a smart-ass and plenty of people dislike him. I don’t think the reaction to him would be any different if he were another color.
And there are plenty of white guys who mouth off who are just as reviled as Sheffield and any body else. John Rocker is just a big-time asshole. You don’t hear about him anymore because he isn’t playing. When he was in Atlanta, spouting off all sorts of hate, Braves fans couldn’t wait to get him out of there. You hear about Sheffield and reactions to what he says not because he’s black but because he’s still a relevant player. Like him or not, he’s good. I doubt he’s a real positive influence in the clubhouse, which is part of why he moves around so much, but he’s good enough and dependable enough that his crazy shit isn’t enough to get him out of the game. As long as people want him on their roster, he’s going to get attention for the things he says, just like any other player of any other race. Personally, I am more concerned with the fact that he is not reprimanded for saying extremely racist, insulting things about Latinos than his accusation that the Yankees are racist. If AJ Pierzynski (or any other white player) said anything like that, they’d be kicked out of baseball.
The world is not a fair place. I’m not saying that baseball isn’t biased towards white players, I don’t have that kind of knowledge, but I am saying that Sheffield can get away with saying a lot more than his white counterparts because he is black. If he has experienced racism from the Yankee management, that needs to be taken care of, but he also has to realize that he’s got some serious sensitivity issues as well. I don’t think baseball is perfect. I probably give the MLB as a whole more credit than maybe they’ve earned as far as fair practices go because I’d really rather enjoy the game than think about how racism is damaging it. I’m sure it is present, and it should be dealt with. However, I don’t think it plays a part in the general dislike of Barry Bonds or the reluctance to cheer him on to beating Hank Aaron’s record. Aaron is a baseball legend, and no one likes to see legends lose their spot to someone who they deem less than. And, really, who would be worthy? If it was Griffey Jr who was the sole candidate, I’m sure there would be people rooting against him, too. Barry is a prickly guy. It’s hard to watch someone who comes off as a jerk upset someone who is pretty much universally admired. And I don’t believe Sheffield, just on gut instinct, because I bet he’s hard to deal with and people aren’t always good with tough situations, and I think Sheffield is quick to claim racism is the reason, because that’s a lot easier to deal with than accepting the fact that your behavior is the reason why people don’t want to be around you.
Now I’m just talking in circles. To sum up, yes, there is probably racism in baseball, but I think Sheffield is full of it, and I think race is not a factor in the general dislike of Bonds.
This is an old post, but I thought of it after reading about the storm over Donovan McNabb’s recent comments about how black quarterbacks are treated. McNabb doesn’t have the credibility problems Sheffield does, but he’s still getting laughed at and/or dismissed. They say he’s just whining because the Philly fans don’t like him enough — that’s not at all what I thought he was saying, though I wouldn’t blame him for feeling unfairly maligned, since last I heard a successful quarterback has to have someone to throw to — or that he’s “playing the race card” to explain his problems, or whatever. They can’t attack him as an uppity loudmouth, in other words, so they’re attacking him as a player.
I know you’re not so much a football person, but I think this throws a new light on The Sheffield Thing; it looks to me like a fair number of sports fans just do not want to hear what black players have to say about racism. Doesn’t matter how much truth there may be to it; they’re not listening, and they’ll make up reasons not to listen if they have to. If it’s not about personality, it’s about performance. When a guy like McNabb attracts controversy for the most innocuous of comments (seriously, it was one step away from “we need to be a credit to our race!”) then a guy like Sheffield has no hope, and in fact nobody’s going to be able to say anything about racism except maybe the white guys (who won’t point out the inequities in the system, because the preference for white quarterbacks has got to be the only reason guys like Joey Harrington still have a career).
Elizabeth — if you get HBO, check out the latest episode of Real Sports. McNabb was on and they talked a lot about this issue (and when they showed that clip of Rush Limbaugh being like, “McNabb is overrated because he’s black and people want to feel good about rooting for a black QB” [I’m paraphrasing, but seriously, barely so], I wanted to barf). And I don’t know from football, but I know from decades of running gags about Philadelphia fans, so it was sort of funny to me that there wasn’t even a throwaway line like, “McNabb could have invented the cheesesteak at it still wouldn’t be good enough for some people,” because: seriously.
But I think you’re right, and I think it’s like I said: people want to think that this is not an issue. Well-meaning, generally right-thinking, open-minded, non-bigoted people want really really badly to believe that racism is not a problem in sports, because if it’s not a problem in sports, then that can mean that either 1) it isn’t a problem in life, or 2) if it is, then it can be fixed, because it’s fixed in sports — look at all these men of different ethnicities playing a game together and being successful, the hero journey shared by all, blah blah. And people have all the best reasons for wanting to believe this, because it *should* be true, and some people just want to watch some damn football and not have it Be About Anything, which is not a wrong thing to want either.
But it’s not realistic. Like, we don’t have to think about it all the time, but ignoring attempts to discuss it doesn’t seem like the right response either.