By Justin Michael Carter
Sammy Sosa went from sure fire hall of famer to disgraced steroid user, but he’s probably best known today for bleaching himself completely white. Perhaps the most unlikely aspect of the Boston Red Sox collapse was how one of the whitest teams in baseball pulled a reverse Sammy Sosa. While losing 21 of 29 games, players at the center of the Red Sox meltdown were drinking beer, playing video games, and eating fried chicken and biscuits on the job. Ty Cobb and Fuzzy Zeller couldn’t have dreamed up a more stereotypical scenario involving Black players if grape sodas and hot sauce were tossed in for good measure.
Subversive racist stereotypes may persist in other sports, but they seem most pronounced in baseball. Dating back to Jackie Robinson’s debut, America’s former pastime has been forever linked to the country’s racial travails. This is why the never ending slew of Red Sox revelations are so stunning. Not only are the players involved guilty of embodying some viscous stereotypes unfairly attributed to Black and Latino players, they’ve been given a pass for doing so.
The details of the Red Sox collapse have been ripped from the pages of a book often unfairly used to judge minority players. Lazy, disinterested, selfish. For years these terms have been fashioned into a Trojan Horse then smuggled behind the enemy lines of sports media to unleash offensive racial stereotypes about Black and Latino athletes. While minority players are routinely savaged for not running out ground balls and having bad body language, white players are praised for being gritty, scrappy, and heady. Minority players are described as gifted and born with immense talent. Such a shame they don’t get enough out of it. If only they would dedicate themselves to the game like the hard working Dustin Pedroia’s of the world, maybe then they would ‘get it’ and truly live up to their potential.
Although it’s not difficult to decipher this DaVinci Code of racial bias, like a Jay-Z double entendre sometimes it just takes a moment to digest. The game comes easy to Black and Latino players. In other words, they haven’t had to work as hard as others for what they’ve accomplished in athletics. They’re merely the benefactors of a sort of Affirmative Action program from On High that unfairly issued them handouts of talent they did not earn and most certainly do not deserve.
Boston has often been fawned over for being blue collar and workmanlike. These notions have now been turned on their head. New reports claim beer drinking took place in the dugout during games while the Xboxing, chicken and biscuit sopping may date back to late 2010. Minority players would have been given the Pete Rose treatment had they committed half of these offenses. No one said a word when Red Sox players were getting fat on chicken and beer losing games down the stretch. Meanwhile, Black players like CC Sabathia and Prince Fielder are dogged by questions about their weight even when playing well and leading their teams to victory.
It’s whispered and spoken in code that minority players lack work ethic, but the Red Sox put their lack of dedication on display for their entire organization to see. Along with their clubhouse partying, it was reported players routinely skipped workouts and declined optional batting practice. Rather than hanging these offenses around the necks of the shiftless players involved, the blame was somehow placed on Terry Francona, one of the most liked managers in the game. Anything to avoid calling white players lazy. If this behavior was taking place as far back as 2010 then the organization was either blind or complicit in their silent show of solidarity.
Black and Latino players rarely enjoy such a unified show of support. Teammates and front office officials have had no problem openly criticizing minority players. Jason Heyward burst on the scene, becoming a rookie all star and exciting the Atlanta Braves fan base. But after struggling during his sophomore season, Heyward had his work ethic questioned and was publicly called out by a white teammate for not playing through injury. Just weeks later the silence was deafening as the same teammate was placed on the DL after having knee surgery.
Hanley Ramirez, a former batting champ and MVP candidate, was publicly called out by white teammates and his front office for offenses like not running hard and texting during games. This is a far cry from running through six packs and playing video games in the clubhouse. Albert Pujols was questioned about whether his contract status was affecting his play on the field this season. Seems silly now that he’s crushing home runs in the World Series but it’s even sillier when you realize no such accusations were hurled at John Lackey. The highly paid Red Sox pitcher posted the worst ERA in franchise history when he wasn’t sucking on chicken bones and swilling beer in the clubhouse.
Jose Reyes was flambéed as selfish for bunting then removing himself from the zfinal game to secure the batting title. Funny how little grumbling there was over Red Sox veteran Tim Wakefield losing game after game as he pursued his 200th win more doggedly than Jimmy McNulty hunted down Avon, Stringer, and the Barksdale crew. Wakefield even did an interview suggesting Boston should bring him back next year so fans could see him chase another personal goal of becoming franchise leader in wins.
The Milwaukee Brewers, one of the Blackest teams in baseball, were publicly criticized by St. Louis Cardinal Lance Berkman for being too Hip Hop and having too much swagger. Berkman couldn’t have made his point more emphatically if he accused the Brewers of having bad credit and not tipping well. The baseball purists who were offended by Milwaukee’s exuberant home run celebrations showed no such disdain about the Red Sox scandal.
The Boston Red Sox have out-Blacked the Blackest stereotypes in the game; a difficult task considering the double standard baseball has flaunted. Sammy Sosa’s skin whitening transformation was so jarring he admitted to using a bleaching cream, then announced his intention to start selling it. If the Red Sox decide to sell what they used to transform themselves into embodying the worst of minority stereotypes they wouldn’t make much money because we already know the formula. All it takes is a little burnt cork, greasepaint, or shoe polish. The same stuff minstrels used when performing in blackface.
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