(Reprinted from April 16, 2019, from the original, long ago. Some of the links are dead. You'll have to take our word for it.)
Tonight, we once again battle the big-spending, hate-filled, deep-state Redsocks - a franchise steeped in racism and violence, which for decades preferred to blame its defeats on a supernatural, anti-God, anti-America "curse," rather than its own failed policies.
Did I mention that they are liars, and anything they say - such as denying the above words - proves everything I'm saying is right! Trouble is, the Boston-leaning announcers on YES never give the Yankees a break. Did you know that the traitorous David Cone, at the end of his career, sold out and pitched for Boston?
Tonight, as we take up arms against this red tide of human scum, we must show them that we have not forgotten their evil history.
Red Sox complicity in U.S. torture flights
They fed their own fans prison food
They're bigger racists than Joe Torre ever was
Their groundskeepers are thugs
Varitek clawed A-Rod's face, kept his own mask on
Schilling poured ketchup on his sock, called it blood
They decapitate their players when they're done with them
Big Papi had it in for Joba for no reason
They tried to freeze-out John and Suzyn.
They can't lose a game without whining about something.
Damn them. Demand that the pro-Redsock YES announcers give the Yankees a fair break! Tonight, we fight.
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The Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate, holding out until 1959, a few months after the Detroit Tigers. This was due to the steadfast resistance provided by team owner Tom Yawkey. Ask some former Boston black players about how great it is to play there...
Big time lurker here. Can't let this pass without a comment. The Yankees are fourth from the bottom. It took NYY 8 years from Jackie Robinson's first season to rostering Elston Howard in 1955. From SB Nation, April 11, 2013:
The Yankees’ elderly manager used racist language but wasn’t a racist (admittedly a thin distinction), general manager George Weiss spoke more politely, at least in public, but was one. All the while, the Yankees insisted that it was a lack of qualified candidates, not racism, that kept the team purely white. When the outspoken Vic Power (told by a restaurant manager that he didn’t serve black people, Power responded, "That’s okay -- I don’t eat black people") put up dominant hitting performances in the high minors, it seemed that the Yankees would either have to promote him or admit their intolerance. They traded him instead, and the claim that it was a pure baseball move fooled no one. "But, but, but" the Yankees stuttered, "we still have Ellie Howard!" At that point, the integration of the Yankees became assured, but taking no chances, Howard won the International League MVP award in 1954.
Strong but soft-spoken, Howard had to overcome a position change from the outfield to catcher, which allowed the club to use Yogi Berra as an excuse to keep him on the bench, and the way Yankee Stadium’s dimensions killed right-handed hitters – in his career he hit 53 home runs in the Bronx, 114 in other parks. Nonetheless, he made the All-Star team in nine seasons and was voted the 1963 AL MVP. The Yankees would not add a second African American player until after Weiss’s forced retirement in 1960.
Ask Vic Powers how great it was to play for the Yankees, or Ken Griifey Sr., or Vlad Guerrero Sr. And to this day, the Yankee grooming rules are enforced, and were instituted to keep black players from sporting the Afro look. People who live in glass houses, as the saying goes. There's plenty of racist conduct on both sides. Comparing one team's racist history to another does not absolve the guilt of both.
How did Oscar Gamble keep his hat on?
JM,
They don't think it be like it is, but it do
This is a good story, quick read for those with short attention spans (me):
https://andscape.com/features/oscar-gamble-1976-baseball-card/
Yes, I am so ashamed of things that happened before I was born.
We need something like quotas to make up for all of those terrible days. You know something affirmative.
Who do we blame for keeping Aaron Judge down on the farm so long?
Why was Severino not given a 10 year contract?
Why did we cut Aaron Hicks?
Why wasn't Stanton extended?
Maybe the racist Yankee fans are to blame.
Why haven't they retired Roy White's Number?
Why did they trade for Bobby Bonds so late in his career?
Just saying.
Looneytown, you're right.
Looneytown, a very uncomfortable truth, and yes you are correct,,,, there's enough guilt to go around on this issue.
I wasn't around in the 40's and 50's and wasn't in a baseball stadium until the 70s. I then started attending many games in both the Stadium (sadly on 1 in the 1st incarnation) and Phenweigh Pahk.
Based on one person's observation, I never, EVER heard a racist comment by anyone inside the stadium. It was late 90s by the time I attended a game at the little league field called phenweigh where I *didn't* hear multiple racist remarks.
All of the baseball teams (and owners and a lot of their fans) were despicable racists back in the day. Some (looking at you, racist townie assholes) remained so long after society had openly recognized the idiocy of it.
Looneytown has indeed been lurking here . . . long enough that he failed to acknowledge that the piece he excerpted on the Yankees' history of racism by Steve Goldman was cited, and linked, by me three weeks ago, along with several other links to stories from creditable sources reporting more recent examples, right up to their recent attempt to muffle Judge from speaking out on issues of racial injustice. At that time my post was ignored, per the usual frat house rules of ostracism of dissidents; I am glad to see that Looney's posting of some -- but not all -- of the same material has finally elicited some overdue acknowledgement from some of the usual suspects. Anyway, here is my May 15 roster of links on Yankee racism, with a brief introduction. The point is that this is not just ancient history but a persistent problem:
The Yankees were once a blatantly racist organization; the the problem is more subtle but still unmistakable. Here's a chronological lowlight reel: in being one of the last to allow an African Amercian onto their MLB roster; then in tolerating the open racism and anti-semitism of Steinbrenner's pet pit bull, Billy Martin; in Steinbrenner's demented obsession with humiliating Dave Winfield one of the finest black players of his generation; in looking the other way as Joe Torre subjected black players to more open reprimands than white players; and, most recently, in the organization's discouraging of Aaron Judge from speaking out on racial injustice.
All of the foregoing is documented in the links I post below:
On Jackie Robinson Day, the Yankees must answer for Jim Crow Baseball
1. The Yankees held to the color line longer than all but three teams. An organization that wants to be credited with the franchise's positive history must acknowledge the negative as well.
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2013/4/15/4228172/jackie-robinson-day-new-york-yankees-vic-power-elston-howard
2. THE SHAMEFUL HISTORY OF THE YANKEES' AND THE RED SOX'S DISMISSAL OF BLACK TALENT
https://samuelburleigh.medium.com/the-shameful-history-of-the-red-sox-and-yankees-dismissal-of-black-talent-60bf4d56d982
3. Reggie Jackson: Billy Martin Used Racist and Anti-Semitic Epithets When He Managed the Yankees
https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7158864/former-new-york-yankees-great-reggie-jackson-says-billy-martin-used-anti-semitic-epithets
4. Gary Sheffield Claims that the Yankees Treated Black Players Differently
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=3376301&page=1
5. Did the Yankees discourage Aaron Judge from speaking out about racial issues? Yes, according to one report.
https://yanksgoyard.com/2020/07/10/yankees-aaron-boone-aaron-judge-avoid-racial-issues/
I know what you guys are saying about race.
I can't believe that it took the Yanks 17 years to get rid of Bill White and then all those years of Ken Singleton and that phony"begging" him to stay with YES.
They must have been secret White Supremacists.
P.S. it not always all about race.
For instance, Gary Sheffield was an a-hole, according to a batboy who knew my son.
Archangel cites the exceptions that prove the rule. I bet he can't believe they promoted Volpe, who has been a disaster, over the far more accomplished and qualified Peraza for the most important position on the team.
@EBD - I do not read every single post, every single comment, every single day. You write with an absolutist tone. Perhaps, if you'd like allies, you might consider being more forgiving.
@Archangel - you've chosen to take a satirical approach, which implies you view the issue lightly. Since you chose to mention Bill White and Ken Singleton, I will choose to mention the fates of Cameron Maybin and Carlos Beltran. To be specific, both Bill White and Ken Singleton were well-spoken gentlemen, who spoke with standard English pronunciation; i.e. "white" English. Cameron Maybin spoke with a decidedly Black English dialect, and Beltran spoke with a thick Spanish accent. Of course, both men, who were very good ballplayers, were deemed to be insufficiently competent to share the currently all-white booth on YES. Neither got more than one year to develop and learn. But it's not really about race, is it? Or the listening preference of the Yankee viewing audience? As I recall from my Bible-reading days, Lucifer was an Archangel, no?
Thank you, all. I shall return to my lurking hole. BTW, if you click my link, you will notice I only joined in June 2023. I created this account today as an extra layer of privacy. I am an internet privacy advocate who takes steps to insure my identity is as safe as possible on line. I lurk under another account. Be well.
Not-so-fun-fact (maybe): McCartney's original draft of "Carry That Weight" began with, "Once there was a Pumpsie."
Looneytown: This isn't high school, so I'm not preoccupied with how many "allies" I have. Your remarks about Beltran and Maybin are on point. The worldview of the Yankee brass can be precisely located on any GPS device: Mar-a-Lago.
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Archangel: You assume, based on unverified rumor and anecdote, that Gary Sheffield was an asshole. Does that justify Torre singling him out for public reprimand while sparing white players the same treatment? Of course there could never have been a white asshole on Torre's teams, right?
Looneytown: I am so grateful that you were kind enough to favor me with an etiquette AND writing lesson in one pointed sentence. I wonder if, given your own rather tart tone--entirey unintentional, no doubt--you appreciate your gift of irony in counseling others about affability. But as long as you're offering free unsolicited advice, you might direct some to the chronic flamers, cribbers, and other assorted pranksters who frequent this virtual frat house. I'm sure they will be as grateful as I am for your generous solicitude.
Forgive me if I harbor suspicions that you did not unearth the Goldman piece on Yankee racism on your own--my Ouija board informs me that you first encountered it in my post of a month ago on this topic. But that is rather stretching the definition of evidence, I grant you.
By the way, Steven Goldman is a first-rate baseball journalist and analyst, a long-time denizen of Baseball Prospectus, and a lifelong Yankee fan--one who does not equate fandom with the collapse of critical faculties about the Yankee mystique.
Personally, I appreciate that this blog sometimes veers off into the political arena because the baseball season is long, and really, how much can we hate on Cashman and Boone? OK, every day, I guess. But it's also instructive to occasionally look at sports through a different lens when appropriate. Because the Red Sox and Yankees were at the bottom of the list concerning integration, today's discussion on race and social justice seems apropos. Therefore, I have no problem with EDB airing (I think someone mentioned EDB was a female) her thoughts. Ditto to Whalebird, who I hope doesn't refrain from commenting in the future.
BTW, who is Looneytown?
I commented on the resident racist rant a couple of weeks ago regarding Sheffield. Unlike her, I was alive and following his career back when he was 19. He complained that the Brewers were "messing with his mind" when they moved him from shortstop to third base, and with the great personal integrity that he was to show moving forward proceeded to deliberately throw balls over the first base into the stands. Every perceived slight he'd play the race card, in reality it was over money (and he was arguably half crazy). I personally never heard that Ken Griffey Sr. was ill-treated, but Junior, took affront because Billy Martin got pissed and stopped ALL players kids from coming into the clubhouse. WTF were they doing there in the first place? Isn't baseball a difficult enough job as it is? Well, Martin wounded Junior's psyche so badly that he vowed never to play for the Yankees. He had it tough, being the physically gifted son of a millionaire. Beltran and Maybin were HORRIBLE announcers. IF they were White would they have gotten the job in the first place? I mean, come on! Speaking in a second language is tough enough, but when are being paid to announce you'd better polish it up. Listening to those games was insufferable. And EBD, lady you have some balls coming in here and playing the victim of "Systemic Racism", whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. You torch people who don't agree with your thinking, never bother reading retorts with any thought; maybe you have a Millennial Disorder. I don't believe that you even like baseball, this is your Anger Time Outlet. Learn something about politeness and though shall receive in turn. And this isn't junior college, don't expect people to collate their opinions into statistical studies for you to peruse. Since joining this blog, I've come across only one person who keeps running feuds going... Acting in a civilized fashion isn't a weakness.
Carl J. Weitz -- "Looneytown" was the initial nic used by "Whalebird"; in a self-admitted frenzy of paranoia about concealing his/her identity from the scrutiny of some feverishly imagined on-line Inspector Javert, he changed the nic mid-stream. This, of course, is the least of the hilarious lunacies you are likely to encounter on a Bizarro blog where attacks on racism are characterized as racist, where the public reprimand of black players ONLY by a white manager (Torre) is rationalized as just because the black man is slandered as an asshole and reprobate (funny how brazen WHITE assholes like David Wells were never publicly humiliated in this fashion by Torre). The suburban-lily-white-gated-community racism of the Yankees through the decades is exceeded only by the brazen racism of some of the more repugnant and addled flame addicts on this blog.
" brazen racism of some of the more repugnant and addled flame addicts on this blog."
Name one instance, assclown.
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
People who justify and rationalize the obvious racism of the Yankee front office, like you. Addled flame addicts? You too. Why don't you start one of your hundredfold repastings of your Pizza Boy rant to prove that you are not a troll. LOL!
" brazen racism of some of the more repugnant and addled flame addicts on this blog."
Name one instance, assclown.
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
To reiterate:
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
QED
Silence is a form of complicity. Lots of regulars have acknowledged the Yankees' history of racism. You have been silent about it. Silent except for your usual vulgar compulsive flaming. Racism is a matter of indifference to you. Your ire is roused only by preadolescent flame wars, n oh t by racism. Show us a post where you have criticized Yankee racism. Just one will do -- not a hundred Pizza Boy rants, which are also racist because most food service workers of that sort are people of color. You have contempt for those kinds of people since you use pizza boy as an epithet. The hundreds of times you have spewed that term of contempt for the working poor exposes you as a callous, malicious classist and racist. There now. YOU are abominable racist. Clear enough?
" brazen racism of some of the more repugnant and addled flame addicts on this blog."
Name one instance, assclown.
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
To reiterate:
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
Too easy, pizza troll.
QED. Not one criticism of the Yankees' history of racism Proud ascent by silence, like the good Germans who never uttered a discouraging word about Hitler or the holocaust. You are a classic Good German, and a vulgar racist classist with your crude, proud pizza boy contempt for the working poor. I don't know how Stang and duque tolerate your ugly presence here.
brazen racism of some of the more repugnant and addled flame addicts on this blog."
Name one instance, assclown.
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
To reiterate:
Not a diatribe. Just a link to a post.
You can't.
You're the only troll here.
Too easy, pizza troll.
Just.
One.
You're impotent.
Pizza this, pizza that. Hundreds of disgusting, deranged racist-classist rants vomiting up your contempt for the working poor and people of color who make and deliver pizza. You are sick, beneath contempt, choked with rage, as nauseating a subhuman specimen as crawls on this earth.
Duque and stang: why do you tolerate the presence of this racist, flame-addict vermin on your blog?
Pizza troll: for this warped racist pig the ultimate insult is to associate someone with the poor people of color who work in the fast-food industry. People on this blog with a shred of conscience should refuse to acknowledge his posts. Duque and stang should have banned him a long time ago. If you abet this sicko, you are abetting his racism and deranged flame wars. Enough is enough. He should be banned.
EBD, how about giving your proselytizing digs on racial issues a rest? The rest of us are here to talk about Yankee baseball. You have been on a mission to find racist intent, making cracks regarding shades of skin tone, or things before your time that you construe as racist. Is this what you want to live for, affronts from the past? Or do you want to talk about Black slavers, hundreds of years ago, continuing to this day? Maybe you are an ok person in real life, but you write like a poorly educated, classless, hostile drag. Give yourself a rest.
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