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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough see a double standard! They want Dusty Baker's head! Plus: Salon's more, uh, balanced readers weigh in on blacks, whites and heat.
Jul 10, 2003 | The Cubs lost speedy center fielder Corey Patterson to a knee injury the other day, but there's at least one healthy pair of legs in Chicago: the ones on the Dusty Baker race-and-heat story.
Those of us in the typing and chattering classes are having no end of fun with Baker, who, in the words of the Cubs blog Let's Play Two, said some "weird, Harry Caray-like things about black and Latino ballplayers." The Cubs manager is standing by his statement that dark-skinned minorities hold up better in the heat than whites do.
On MSNBC's "Scarborough Country," Joe Scarborough ran through a history of whites sports figures whose careers were torpedoed after they made racially insensitive comments -- Al Campanis, Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder, Howard Cosell -- and then said, "Of course, its not just white sportscasters who face different standards than Dusty Baker. Might Trent Lott have survived if he was a liberal Democrat? When it comes to race and speech in America, the standards are nothing if not flexible."
Jon Entine, the author of "Taboo: Why Blacks Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It" and a Salon contributor, writes, "I had the unfortunate experience earlier this week of appearing on the Fox News right-left slugfest 'Hannity and Colmes.' Sean Hannity appeared delighted at Baker's apparent faux pas because it gave him an opportunity to attack what he and some other conservatives see as a double standard -- blacks get a free press for transgressions that cost whites, as in the case of Snyder, their jobs."
Entine, whose piece about the Baker flap will appear in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, says he thought Hannity would ask for his expert opinion on the scientific merit of Baker's comments -- he argues that what Baker said is "scientifically sensible," but it's unclear if a better ability to withstand heat translates to better performance on the athletic field. But he never got the chance to say any of that as Hannity hammered away about the liberal double standard.
Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh similarly has his dittos in a bunch over Baker's comments. Hilariously, Limbaugh refers to sociologist Harry Edwards, who tsk-tsked at Baker, as "former San Francisco Forty Niners race coach -- yes, race coach -- Harry Edwards." Edwards was actually a consultant to the 49ers who devised aptitude tests for potential draftees, among other duties. Limbaugh went on to kid Baker for uncovering a racist conspiracy in baseball, since most ballgames are played at night, see, when it's cooler, a disadvantage for the heat-withstanding blacks.
Listen, Dusty Baker is not Trent Lott. Lott's comment about Strom Thurmond's presidential run may or may not have been an unfortunate choice of words, but the fact is that Lott had a long record that left little doubt about how he felt about blacks and whites in America. He was not unfairly punished for being something he isn't.
Given the statements Baker made, I think he's opened himself up to scrutiny over whether he shows bias against his white players. I don't think there's any record or evidence that he has, but a close look at the matter is warranted. If he denies whites playing time for this or any other reason besides their ability to help the team, then he should be punished, maybe even fired, for it.
But the way to deal with the double standard isn't to overreact to racially insensitive comments by blacks just because we overreact when whites make them. It's to stop overreacting to whites.
Campanis, who was fired as the Dodgers' general manager in 1987 after saying on "Nightline" that blacks "lack the necessities" to manage in the big leagues, was a guy with a pretty good record on race relations. He befriended Jackie Robinson, an unpopular move, when they were teammates in Montreal in 1946. He had a better record than most baseball executives in his day when it came to hiring blacks. Sure he never hired a black manager, but he only hired one manager his entire career, and that guy, Tommy Lasorda, had been groomed for the job forever. "What he said was wrong, but he was always cool to minorities when I was there, especially the Latin players and the blacks." That's Dusty Baker talking about Campanis.
Was it better that Campanis was summarily dismissed, and baseball lost a good guy, as opposed to having an open, honest dialogue about his statements? If Campanis had been allowed to stick around, to apologize, doesn't it make sense that his next act would have been something like a solemn promise to work to improve minority hiring practices in baseball? Maybe set up some sort of mentoring program or something? (He said, by way of apology, that what he'd meant by "lack the necessities" was that blacks lacked the necessary experience, not ability, but he was exhausted and couldn't get his point across clearly.)
If people like John Rocker and Marge Schott are spewing hatred, then off with their heads. Screw 'em. But if someone with a pretty good record puts his foot in his mouth, maybe swift and blinding punishment isn't the best way to go. There's more than one way to attack a double standard.
