Joe Morgan rears his ugly head

[goonys evil twin]

My source closest to the Astros actually believes there is some truth to the notion that racism may exist in the Astros' front office.

 

Personally I thought it was rather interesting to see how white the stands were in Houston. After years of seeing Yankees crowds, and two days of Comiskey crowds, that Houston crowd looked odd. Has there ever been a larger collection of 43 year old white people, outside a Republican convention that is?

 

I doubt there's racism against players in that organization. But I wouldn't doubt if they weighed heavily the value of marketing a white star to the fan base.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

My source closest to the Astros actually believes there is some truth to the notion that racism may exist in the Astros' front office.

 

Personally I thought it was rather interesting to see how white the stands were in Houston. After years of seeing Yankees crowds, and two days of Comiskey crowds, that Houston crowd looked odd. Has there ever been a larger collection of 43 year old white people, outside a Republican convention that is?

 

I doubt there's racism against players in that organization. But I wouldn't doubt if they weighed heavily the value of marketing a white star to the fan base.

 

I disagree with him as well, but he does have close ties within the organization. Drayton does value the "hometown" boy and lately those have been white guys.

 

On another note, I see every day the lack of interest in baseball by the African American athlete. I teach in an all African-American school. My students have little, if any, interest in playing or watching baseball. They know I like it, but it isn't an area of common ground. Now, if I talk the NBA or NFL, they will have very much to say. Of all the students I teach, I think only one played baseball this summer.

[AI]

My source closest to the Astros actually believes there is some truth to the notion that racism may exist in the Astros' front office.

 

Personally I thought it was rather interesting to see how white the stands were in Houston. After years of seeing Yankees crowds, and two days of Comiskey crowds, that Houston crowd looked odd. Has there ever been a larger collection of 43 year old white people, outside a Republican convention that is?

 

I doubt there's racism against players in that organization. But I wouldn't doubt if they weighed heavily the value of marketing a white star to the fan base.

 

Ever been to a game at the Metrodome?

[MembersOnlyJacket]

My source closest to the Astros actually believes there is some truth to the notion that racism may exist in the Astros' front office.

 

Personally I thought it was rather interesting to see how white the stands were in Houston. After years of seeing Yankees crowds, and two days of Comiskey crowds, that Houston crowd looked odd. Has there ever been a larger collection of 43 year old white people, outside a Republican convention that is?

 

I doubt there's racism against players in that organization. But I wouldn't doubt if they weighed heavily the value of marketing a white star to the fan base.

 

Ever been to a game at the Metrodome?

 

Yes, but that's Minneapolis we're talking about, not Houston. The population of Houston is 17% black and 30% hispanic. Minneapolis is no more than 5% of either race. I've seen much more racially diverse crowds at Fenway in Boston; a city which is much less diverse than Houston.

[Careless]

I dislike Joe Morgan but his comments make a lot of sense and find nothing wrong with them. He does make a good point.

Just like I'm sure you'd see nothing wrong with some white guy bemoaning the fact that baseball isn't nearly as white as it was decades ago, I'm sure.

 

There would be a difference between crying that it's not all white, and crying that there aren't any whites.

And?

 

And what?

 

If some bigoted hick went on the air and complained that baseball isn't as white as it used to be, he'd basically be pining for the good ole' days of segregation, which would make him an ignorant bigoted hick.

 

Joe Morgan is bummed that fewer and fewer black kids, particularly inner-city youth, are getting involved in baseball. He loves the sport, and I think wants it to continue to grow and grow. And it seems clear to me that he thinks one of the best things for the sport would be to have more and more inner city teams with black kids playing the game.

 

I don't see the problem.

This "ignorant bigoted hick" could simply be referring to the days of, say, 1985, and be upset at the decline of the popularity of baseball in the white population. Your expectations, though, were precisely my point.

[goonys evil twin]

I dislike Joe Morgan but his comments make a lot of sense and find nothing wrong with them. He does make a good point.

Just like I'm sure you'd see nothing wrong with some white guy bemoaning the fact that baseball isn't nearly as white as it was decades ago, I'm sure.

 

There would be a difference between crying that it's not all white, and crying that there aren't any whites.

And?

 

And what?

 

If some bigoted hick went on the air and complained that baseball isn't as white as it used to be, he'd basically be pining for the good ole' days of segregation, which would make him an ignorant bigoted hick.

 

Joe Morgan is bummed that fewer and fewer black kids, particularly inner-city youth, are getting involved in baseball. He loves the sport, and I think wants it to continue to grow and grow. And it seems clear to me that he thinks one of the best things for the sport would be to have more and more inner city teams with black kids playing the game.

 

I don't see the problem.

This "ignorant bigoted hick" could simply be referring to the days of, say, 1985, and be upset at the decline of the popularity of baseball in the white population. Your expectations, though, were precisely my point.

 

I still don't see your point.

 

There is no lack of white baseball players. The only way somebody could lamenting about the decreasing numbers of whites in the game is if he was talking about a time when only whites played.

[Soul]

On the subject of Joe Morgan, only one thing needs to be said:

 

Thank God the World Series is on Fox.

 

 

 

However, I have to agree with goony on this one. Morgan isn't throwing out racist comments in that article. He's just expressing concern that his favorite sport is no longer very popular with black youth. I fail to see what's wrong with that----and I *loathe* Morgan.

[Careless]

 

This "ignorant bigoted hick" could simply be referring to the days of, say, 1985, and be upset at the decline of the popularity of baseball in the white population. Your expectations, though, were precisely my point.

 

I still don't see your point.

 

There is no lack of white baseball players. The only way somebody could lamenting about the decreasing numbers of whites in the game is if he was talking about a time when only whites played.

Historically (from the 60s, I guess) there has been a significantly higher rate of american black players in the league than in the general population. would you like to have seen whites complaining about it then? These days it's hard to figure what sort of rate you'd expect because so many players are from other countries. Anyway, 9% (or so) of players are american born blacks. Since they make up about 13% of the population, you'd need about 30% of baseball players to be from outside of the US for 9% to be representative. 26% are "latin", which doesn't tell me if they're foreign born or not. If that's all foreign, add in a few percent for canadians, japanese, koreans, etc, and you're right on target for perfect racial integration by frequency in the population. Adding more black baseball players would, in fact, cause a lack of white players.

Of course, I'm not actually complaining about this. Baseball should promote talent, not race. I think baseball should do as it's already doing and focus on promoting baseball in the inner cities where it's dying out. I just felt like pointing out the stupidity of racial quotas, especially ones with an arbitrary basis like this one

edit: got my numbers from seattle times, if you're wondering

[hardcorecubfan]

Where are our white spokesmen? Why aren't they asking basketball why an inordinate percentage of whites are being kept out of basketball?

 

I am more worried about the lack of hispanics in hockey or Ecuadorians in Basketball (avg. height 5'4) *L*

 

Baseball is not an inner city game, it is not conducive to small parks, thus Basketball reins. can't see anything racial about it just economics.

 

Maybe MLB should build a training center in downtown Houston

[neely crenshaw]

here's my problem with the statement.. why is a black person only an american of african decent? you can not tell me that vizcaino and taverez do not have african heritage but they don't count because they are from the caribbean?! to me that's like saying that a guy isn't black because he's from indiana. it has nothing to do with where you are born but where your ancestors are from. ozzie and freddie garcia are hispanic. taverez and vizcaino are black. they may be from the islands and have hispanic blood, but most afro-american blacks have white and indian blood also, it does not change their ethinicity. it's just a convenient way to make this an argument.

[BadKermit]

Everything anyone has ever said or done is racist.

[USSoccer]

Everything anyone has ever said or done is racist.

 

That's classic, Bee-Kay.

[Careless]

here's my problem with the statement.. why is a black person only an american of african decent? you can not tell me that vizcaino and taverez do not have african heritage but they don't count because they are from the caribbean?! to me that's like saying that a guy isn't black because he's from indiana. it has nothing to do with where you are born but where your ancestors are from. ozzie and freddie garcia are hispanic. taverez and vizcaino are black. they may be from the islands and have hispanic blood, but most afro-american blacks have white and indian blood also, it does not change their ethinicity. it's just a convenient way to make this an argument.

Morgan's point, as someone pointed out earlier, was about the death of baseball in black american culture. Immigrants don't really factor in. Didn't seem to be the article's point, though. So morgan actually made the author look stupid. Not a good sign for his career.