Thursday, June 07, 2007

Sheffield turns guru

According to a 2005 report by the University of Central Florida Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, only 8.5% of major leaguers were African American -- the lowest percentage since the report was initiated in the mid-1980s. By contrast, whites comprised 59.5% of the majors' player pool, Latinos 28.7% and Asians 2.5%. With the percentage of African-Americans playing Major League Baseball at an all-time low Gary Sheffield says he has a theory why that's the case.

In an interview with GQ magazine Sheffield states, "I called it years ago. What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out. … [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do -- being able to control them," he told the magazine. "Where I'm from [the ghetto], you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit [bling and broads], but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is [a criminal]. And that's a person that you're going to talk to with respect, you're going to talk to like a man. These are the things my race demands. So, if you're equally good as this Latin player, guess who's going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys."

Latinos are easier to control than blacks? Try telling that to the US border authorities. Or maybe by “easier to control” Shef means that Latinos follow team policy by not bringing their weapons into the clubhouse.

3 comments:

Chris said...

Torri Hunter has added his voice to the choir, boldly stating that in 10 years there will be no black players in the majors. I think that the American desire for instant gratification plays a role. There are no official minor leagues for the NFL and NBA, so you don't have to work your way up and earn your reward (million dollar contracts). football and basketball hand them out freely it seems.

Alllegionoflegit said...

Yeah, it is sad when hockey will have more blacks playing in their league then baseball.
Why does everything come down to race? They always play that card no matter what. A ball player is a ball player is a ball player.

Anonymous said...

That was freakin hilarious man, nice work