12/21/24
June 23, 2003
Giants lineup last Saturday was all blacks and Latinos.: "It shows how far baseball has come in the 56 years since Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby integrated the game that it took Felipe Alou six innings Saturday night to notice that he had penned a lineup, including the starting pitcher, composed entirely of Latin American and African American players. Longtime Giants watchers believe that was a first." An MLB first?
posted by worldcup2002 to baseball at 11:50 PM - 8 comments
By the way...before I get called out, I was embellishing/lying/exaggerating when I said I always root for underdogs. I often cheer for the champion/dynasty, like Tiger and Jordan and I have no problem with the Yankees either. Sue me.
posted by vito90 at 10:22 AM on June 24, 2003
On the other hand, the Cardinals have only one African American player on the roster, Kerry Robinson, and he's been bouncing back and forth between the bigs and AAA. I count 8 Latino players on the roster. The April 9 entry from this Cardinals blog addresses it. I think that it's probably just statistical anomaly rather than some sort of statement about the demographics of the game. The interesting trend over the last few years has been the influx of Asian players into MLB.
posted by mbd1 at 10:39 AM on June 24, 2003
What someone with more time on their hands should do is see what the ratio of white/minority players is for white managers compared to minority managers. I'd do it, but I'm at work and actually have to get something done today. Seriously.
posted by grum@work at 10:56 AM on June 24, 2003
Well my advisor is out of the office today, so..... As best I can gather there are 7 teams with minority managers (CHC, CHW, KC, MON, PIT, SF, TOR). The 25 man rosters for those teams averaged about 11.5 minority players. The remaining 23 teams averaged about 10 minority players. It's probably not statistically significant given the sample size of only 30 teams though. I think the White Sox and the Expos are the only teams with minority GMs as well - and those teams average 15 minority players.
posted by mbd1 at 01:02 PM on June 24, 2003
Nice work, mbd1! Figures you stat-crazy baseballers would have that info available. Rock on.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:33 PM on June 24, 2003
I could care less about this issue, as I think it's sad that we're even still noticing this stuff, but God bless you, mbd1, for posting that link about Redbird Nation. I now officially, between that and SpoFi, will never be productive again.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:54 PM on June 24, 2003
As a sidenote to this, the Cardinals and Royals played yesterday in 1928 Negro Leagues uniforms. I don't have a point. I just thought it was ironic.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:12 PM on June 30, 2003
Next thing you know, us poor white guys won't even be able to play hockey. I don't want to sound too controversial, so don't read much into this, but I always root for underdogs. I am confident that back in the day I would have been Jackie Robinson's biggest fan because of what he went through. It's that same mentality that sometimes causes me to root a bit extra for the little white guy. Not so much in baseball, which is is sooo diverse and more of a melting pot than any other sport, but in basketball for sure. I root for the Steve Nashes and the Jason Williamses, etc. What would be the reaction if an NBA team rolled out an all-white lineup? Would it be cause for celebration?