My brother Mike took me to my first baseball game in 1970. In the lineup for the Mets that day were Joe Foy, Ken Singleton and Cleon Jones. Tommie Agee later came on to pinch-hit and Donn Clendenon was sitting in the dugout. Even though I grew up in perhaps the whitest place in New York City, I was neither surprised nor disgusted about the number of black faces on my favorite team.
The early 1970s were probably the high point for African-American participation in Major League Baseball. A few years ago it was a hot topic to lament the decline of American-born blacks in the majors but I thought that was a silly topic to discuss. While I want the best athletes playing baseball, it is much more important for kids to play the sports they love the most.
If basketball and football hold the imagination of African-Americans, so be it. The talent level on display in MLB today remains high, due to the influx of players from Latin America, Asia and elsewhere. Perhaps the current-day version of Willie Mays is playing football but Shin-Soo Choo is playing baseball. And while the latter-day Bob Gibson may be in the NBA, Felix Hernandez is on the mound.
Today is Martin Luther King Day. And while baseball’s minority holiday is Jackie Robinson Day, I think it’s a good idea today to embrace the diversity alive and thriving in baseball.
Despite the attempts of some in the media to drum up xenophobia with “Los Mets” and other disparaging comments and phrases, fans instead choose to judge players based on the content of their OPS or ERA rather than the color of their skin. We fondly recall Doc and Darryl, Mex and the Kid. We want nothing more than to see Beltran and Reyes rebound with big years and Johan to come back from shoulder surgery.
We wanted GMJ off the team not because he was black but because he couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag. We cheered on Opening Day when Kaz hit home runs and booed him every other day when he didn’t. Shinjo and Yoshii developed large followings, just like The Stork.
Fans want a leader, for the next Cliff Floyd to appear on the team. We don’t want the cult of Francoeur or either Shawn/Sean Green, however white they may be. Fans hate Castillo and Perez for their diminished baseball skills, not their cultural background.
The egalitarianism that baseball inspires is wonderful. If only it would expand into every other aspect of our lives. Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone
You can’t blame “Los Mets” on the media when the team wore uniforms proclaiming them as such during regular season games.
True, the Mets originated the phrase as a marketing tool and deserve a small part of the criticism.
I do think the majority of blame goes to close minded fans and media members who took a marketing phrase and turned it into a rallying cry for what was wrong with the team.