from Amazon
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Modern Day begins in 1947
Suppose you have two leagues.
One has the more talented players, while the other does a better job of recordkeepinig. Seventy five years later, who will emerge in history’s posterity?
There is no question that the number of blacks in the NBA is far in disproportion to the number of whites, especially relative to the population. If the NBA had MLB’s history, the Negro Basketball League and the Whites-only Basketball League, with the White league having far better recordkeeping, would we, today, be celebrating the accomplishments of the Whites-only league players, putting their accomplishments high above their Black contemporaries, essentially leaving those Black players as a footnote? Even though we would know, for certain, that over half of the best players would be Black? No, of course not. Especially if you are Black.
Because of the number of oppressed people in baseball history is so much smaller, we do leave a footnote. We forget about them because, even though there were plenty of talented Black ballplayers, there wasn’t enough of them. And, White America has a stranglehold on MLB. Imagine though, in 75 years, when MLB is overrun with Black (and Latin, Asian) players like the NBA is, or to a lesser extent like the NFL is. Will the Black players of 2082 recognize much the accomplishments of MLB 1902? No, of course not.
I think a case can be made that you can have a “modern-day” record that only includes games since 1947. Babe Ruth? He’s a footnote, be it a large one. But, he takes his place alongside Josh Gibson. Once you can remove Gibson, Satchel Paige et al as a footnote, then out comes Ruth, Lefty Grove, and Walter Johnson.
If you think the idea is ridiculous, you are probably White. It’s not that you are racist. It’s simply a very biased perspective, entrenched with years of history. Change history.