Boy, I love my readers. Got some interesting responses to the segregation/steroids comparison. Most of the mail was positive but also confused. I can sum much of it up with this general synopsis.
“Bonds cheated! Ruth didn’t!”
That is true and definitely not disputed by me. However, that wasn’t at all what I was getting at. I was saying that records from two eras are tainted, and that seriously affects the integrity of baseball. Unfortunately, most of the people that hit me up didn’t see that. Oh well.
I won’t reproduce most of those e-mails because, well, that sentence says what they say a lot faster than I can c-n-p.
But let’s get to some of the other interesting one. Because this issue touched on race–though not really–I got lots of special stuff. Brian was very upset with me at first.
Just got done reading your article and you have GOT to be kidding me!! Let me get this straight. You are saying that Bonds is justified in taking steroids because he is tackling past racism single handedly? (Race Card Alert!!) I see your point, sort of. Babe played in an era when there were no blacks. There is nothing right or just about that. But to only give the reader two choices (you’re either for Bonds/ Steroids or your for Ruth/ Racism) is total and utter garbage.
Thank you for showing me, once more, that no matter what the situation, you can drop the race card and get people fleeing to Bonds’ side. I hope you’re proud of yourself for backing a lying, cheating, womanizing, drug abuser.
Since his e-mail came early in the day, I had time to go back and forth with him. After asking him to read through the piece again and putting emphasis on a few points, he said this.
Ahh, I see and I couldn’t agree more. You have opened my eyes Bomani Jones!!
That’s right, I open eyes. Call me the alarm clock.
The funniest came from John.
Barry Bonds would have hated segregation… not only would it have prevented him from entering the Major Leagues, it would’ve also made it much more difficult to be with white women, too!
Maybe more difficult, but maybe he needs to read up on Joe Louis and Jack Johnson. I’ve got my thoughts on interracial dating, but Louis gets nothing but dap for pulling Sophia Loren in her prime. I’d buy a time machine for the privilege of washing her car.
You know, the more I read the e-mail, the more I realize the e-mailers said the same thing over and over again. Another guy named John didn’t agree with me, but he gave the highest praise I could hope to receive on this piece. After a few paragraphs of why he didn’t agree, of course.
Although I disagreed with much of your article, it was thought provoking and you deserve credit for that.
And in the end, that’s all I want to do.
But here’s this week’s proof that racism is alive and well. There is no intro. Here’s Gary from Belleville, IL. If you know this guy, send me his address.
Let me start by saying you are a typical fucking Nigger,
You all have to have excusses for failure and want all of the Glory.
That article was the worst example I have ever seen in my life.
Steroids and Segregation are nothing alike. and as for your remark of what would Ruth have done against Negro Pitchers is totally fucking retarded
White athletes are just as good as blacks butt the tables have turned now days with all of your NAACP bullshit white people don’t get the same opportunities as blacks, look at Brad Johnson sitting the bench until culpepper goes down then he wins more games, and Joe Jurevicious same story I could go on and on butt it wouldn’t matter because black people in general are racists and everything is personal because you cant forget the past, I never owned a slave.
Replay if you have the balls.
Yeah, we won’t even get into all the spelling and grammatical errors. I just wanna know how someone can talk all that shit on e-mail and then tell me to replay if I have the balls. Takes a lot of chutzpah to respond to slurs offered over e-mail. Right.
But the most important e-mail came from Ray Doswell, the curator of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The NLBM kind enough to answer some questions I had while researching the piece, and I thank them–specifically Bob Kendrick–for their assistance.
Read your column on ESPN.com with great interest. Very well done. The records ultimately don’t mean a thing in the final analysis. Your comparison of the two eras of baseball history was very good.
Negro Leagues baseball stands as a unique institution forged to success against the backdrop of racism and disenfranchisement. Exploits on the field can not give you the full story of being a Black or Latino off the field. The next frontier in Negro Leagues research will go beyond trying to prove Hall of Fame worthiness to a deeper understanding of black baseball in American society.
Hopefully, all this effort will reveal truths about waht it really means to be a citizen, not just a ballplayer.
For more information on the NLBM, please go to www.nlbm.com.
And that’s it. Covering the ACC Tournament for Page 2, so I’ll be sorta outta pocket for the next few days. Call me if you love me. And if you don’t have the number, just love me from afar.
Gary from Belleville, I applaud you.
I was feelin’ kinda down on myself, like I haven’t accomplished much in my years. ‘Twas truly wearing on my soul. I didn’t know for sure if I could even muster another breath.
But then I read your words. Wow. Such poetry.
Now I feel great. I’m not you. How sweet it is.
Thanks, man.
I’m always amazed at the special place that baseball has in our history. It is always presented as a game that embodies the American ethos,(fair play, honesty, team work, meritocracy,et.al).
In baseball, if you ain’t cheatin, you ain’t tryin!!
Why are the dimensions of every stadium different?
When they wanted more fan interest, why did they ignore the steroid use?
Why did they also reduce the size of their stadiums and juice the ball?
Every football field is 100 yards long. Every basketball rim is 10 ft high.
Baseball has always messed with the minds of their fans. So why all the “righteous indignation” about Bonds on the juice?
There were also pitchers on the juice, but that is not discussed. The dominance of Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan in their mid forties is attributed to “workin out and good clean livin”.
Great article on ESPN!
While baseball never has been a strong suit of mine, as usual you have found an eloquent way of blending sports with life, politics and sociology. I’ve missed reading. Safe journey young man…
PS…I’ve always hated Barry. Respected the game, but hated him. Just an FYI.
I just attribute Nolan Ryan’s dominance to being a big, scary, mean looking hillbilly. I wouldn’t fight Nolan Ryan right now, even. Hell, tie one hand behind his back AND spot me a lead pipe, I still might think twice. He’s even scarier than Randy Johnson maybe, and Randy made a bird explode once.
I love it when people get all riled up over something that is absolutely 100 percent true.
He isn’t saying Bonds didn’t cheat but that’s immediately what people are gonna think.
I’ve learned that people really don’t read…
I wouldn’t throw them thangs with Nolan Ryan. I still remember when he dropped dem bees on Robin Ventura, who was stupid enough to rush Nolan Ryan..
But Kirk, you shouldn’t be afraid of Randy Johnson. He’d prolly throw out his back the first time he swings at you.
Big Grip, you’re right: baseball is the most hypocritical of all pro sports. Whereas other folks see the changing size of parks as buidling an advantage for your team, those same teams call it “quirks.” They should known somethin was wrong when Brady Anderson, of all people, knocked 50 out of the park that one year.
But Gary from Bellville does sound like your typical malcontented social outcast that subscribes to racist notions when he cannot connect with today’s society—along with bad grammatical and typing skills.
And Bo…I woulda had to jump into that time machine after you. Sophia Lauren was off the chain back in the day.
Ty Cobb was a fuckin’ racist that sharpened his spikes just in case he had to break up a double play. And the notion of Bo throwing the race card is ridiculous. It’s not like he came out with the Bell Curve remix or somethig.
I was going to suggest that if someone DID have gary (sic – fuckwads like this don’t deserve proper noun status) from Belleville IL’s address, it would come in handy in order to go and pull some American History X shit on him in front of his pad. However, I soon realized that gary more than likely already spends very little on dental hygine and I have yet to see a trailer park that has curbs. Apologies to non-fuckwad toothless trailerites in the crowd.
well…you do know how to provoke conversation lol.
I think it’s an interesting point raised that part of the discussion involves an assumption (by some)that the Negro Leagues were ‘of course’ inferior, so therefore if those players were not included in the discussion, it wouldn’t much matter anyway, whereas this steroid thing involves the best of the best, regardless of race, and therefore much important.
I’d say people who believe that are idiots, but what do I know.
Anyhow, I am not all het up about the steroid thing- I cheered Big Mac and Sosa and enjoyed the All Star Game when Mac lit up Fenway. I hate Barry Bonds, but there’s no doubt that he is an awesome player. In a time when Everybody and their mama was juicing, it’s really not surprising, and I don’t think it warrants all that much discussion.
Gary, Gary Gary- take a deep breath…what you smell? is your ass. Get it off your shoulders.
What a lovely letter from Mr. Doswell.
Great Article –
Not only was it really insightful, but it had a fantastic flow to it. Great work. People get so touchy whenever race or their heroes are mentioned that they forget to read (and type, apparently) the words on the page.
They missed some good ones.
Why is it that everyone doubts Nolan Ryan’s steroid use? That man was 45 years old and still throwing 98mph. Just like he did at 20. No one can throw as hard or run as fast in their 40’s as they did in their 20’s. If that were possible, we would still see Carl Lewis running world class times. You can’t “love” your woman in your 40’s like you did in your 20’s. You will need a little chemical help. That explains the explosive sales of Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis. Maybe Nolan put some Cialis on his arm.
Nah man, he was on advil. Remember he did the commercials?
I thought the piece on ESPN was more about the game of baseball then Barry Bonds. And just like we’ve all been talking about looking at the totality of the athlete as a person and not just his accomplishments, I think that a lot of people will like Barry Bonds no more than any other person that you see, hear about, but don’t get to meet. Ultimately, he’s never going to be the Babe Ruth of baseball. Perception is reality; and unfortunately or not, no one is going to perceive Babe Ruth in a negative light or as a victim of his era, but people will continue to perceive Barry Bonds as the big, bad, arrogant bully of baseball. I think people understand that sports-figures are indeed looked at from just more than the sports viewpoint. I mean, if some didn’t then why is Pete Rose getting left out of Cooperstown? The funny thing is that in the end, everyone is human…so of course all of us can’t understand everything from every viewpoint, not even the media and not even judgges. There will be people who hate Barry Bonds, and people who love Barry Bonds. That won’t change. I think it was good to point out the two eras of baseball and how they have clouds hanging above them but the truth is that there will be another era, with clouds just the same. History tends to repeat itself, and ultimately, this is just another story. I respect Barry Bonds for doing what he did in the game of baseball, but that doesn’t mean I have to respect him off the field. And the same goes for Kirby. The good that one does can never out-weigh the bad; they are two separate entities. They shouldn’t be a final decision on a person, and there shouldn’t be a final decision on how the public perceives them. It seems like everyone is always trying to come to a consensus on a player: do we like Kobe? do we like Barry Bonds? Those are personal questions. And athletes don’t have an obligation to their fans and they are not trying to please anyone. Just like you said, you don’t write to please your readers. And yes, many will say, well they are professional athletes? Well, you and others in your industry are also professional writers but apparently some don’t have any responsibility to the public. So why are athletes held up to responsibilities that you wouldn’t ask of a “regular” human being? Shouldn’t we ask Mark Cuban and other owners and Bud Selig to donate their time and efforts to the community like we do of the athletes? I really don’t think that many people think of these athletes as heroes; more or less they are portrayed as heroes. And ultimately, writers still write about the same controversial things because they continue to be controversial. I just don’t see how Bonds taking supplements in an era when seemingly everyone was taking something can be considered anymore dreadful than A)Bud Selig and B) the public. After all, weren’t those the only two persons that could have saved baseball’s image? Barry just took advantage of a system that needed attention. If we want to put an asterisk by his name, we might as well put an asterisk by the whole era. And by the way, how is it cheating if it doesn’t break a rule? I mean, now I can see how it is cheating because the system has been formatted, and trust me, I am NOT for steroids or cheating or Barry Bonds, but I’m just trying to evoke some thought: why doesn’t anyone blame the system? the MLB? or call for Bud Selig’s resignation?? After all, do we really think he was blind to the steroid use, especially considering how often he’s around ballparks and clubhouses? And considering how he’s constantly in touch with media-outlets whom have staff that have seen it first-hand? I guess my point in all of this is that if people really thought that baseball is a microcosm of American society, we’re all in a LOT of trouble. And looking at America right now, that might be the only thing that baseball has gotten right in a looong time. I will never respect the game of baseball not because of the players, but because of the institution.