The Irony of an All-Black Jackie Robinson Little League Team

On Saturday,  ABC broadcast a Little League World Series US Championship game between Nevada and Illinois.  But the Illinois team also goes by Chicago, Great Lakes Region, and the Jackie Robinson West Little League team. By the second inning, the broadcasters were already ginning up golf claps for the great accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, how his legacy is being carried on, and how special baseball is to this inner city region.  

By the way, the 2014 Jackie Robinson All Stars from Chicago have no white players or coaches.  They consist entirely of ‘African Americans’.  

Am I the only one who sees the irony of a Jackie Robinson Legacy team made up of a single race of players and coaches?   It begs the question, “What exactly is Jackie Robinson’s legacy”?  Is it about favoring one race to the exclusion of others;  e.g. providing a safe-haven for black kids who don’t have to compete with other 12 year old white, Latino, or Asian players for a spot on the team?  Or is it about overcoming racial bias in athletics and other endeavors?  Somebody please say it out loud.

I don’t have the statistics in front of me, but I’m pretty sure there are white/Latino/Asian kids in the Great Lakes region, white/Latino/Asian kids in Illinois, and maybe even white/Latino/Asian kids in Chicago.  But none of them made the Jackie Robinson West little league team.  Why?

I couldn’t find any definitive statements that the Jackie Robinson West team does not allow non-black players.  I’m willing to accept the possibility that the team had open tryouts, picked the best qualified players, and they all happened to be black.   After watching the game, one has to admit that they are a very skilled group of young athletes.  Should one of them have to miss their chance at the Little League World Series so the team could look more racially diverse? 

If broadcasters and sports writers are going to pretend to care about race in sports - “Why are there not more black managers/owners/coaches in the [insert sport here]”-  they should at least be intellectually honest enough to admit  that sometimes the most qualified candidates happen to be of the same ethnicity.  

Or they should admit that racial bias is acceptable as long as as the ends justify the means. 

Either way, please pick a position and defend it. Consistently.

Just Don't Call it Branch Rickey Day

Most of us in the US know April 15^th as tax day, the day when federal and state personal income taxes are due.  But starting in 2004 major league baseball declared that on April 15 of each year, every player in every game wears number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, the Texas oil baron who sacrificed fame and fortune to be the first black professional baseball player. No, wait – he was a research chemist working on a vaccine for leukemia.  No, that’s not it either… perhaps he was a concert pianist and composer who gave up his career for the social advancement of his race? 

Well, actually none of those is accurate.  Jackie Robinson was just a good athlete who was the first black offered money to play baseball.  He wasn’t necessarily better than all other black players before him, it wasn’t that he sacrificed some greater calling to prove a point about race, it wasn’t that he organized a march on Washington, refused to give up his seat on the bus, or risked being thrown in jail to be a historic champion of civil rights.  He just agreed to live the dream of tens of thousands of other kids who wished they could get paid for playing a game they loved. 

So why do we need a Jackie Robinson day?  What was the selfless and heroic act he represented that blazed the way for all future black athletes?  Well, racism was definitely strong in major league baseball in the 1940s. No official rule existed that banned blacks from joining the league, but no team had been willing to sign black players despite their demonstrated success in the Negro league.   For sure, Mr. Robinson would face resistance from fans, players, media, and maybe even his own teammates for invading a ‘white sport’.   But let’s not forget, he wasn’t picking up garbage or shining shoes, he was playing baseball for money.  I have no quarrel with Jackie Robinson; by all accounts he was a great player, a great teammate, and never folded to the temptation of lashing out at his antagonists. 

Let’s be honest, who had the most to lose when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers?  A strong case could be made for Branch Rickey, a white business manager who took the risk to break ranks with the fellow owners and league officials by signing a black man. But you probably never heard of Branch Rickey¸ even though he is recognized as the innovator of the major league farm system, for signing the first Hispanic player, for encouraging the expansion of the league by adding new teams, and for instituting the use of baseball helmets.  Rickey was quoted as saying "I may not be able to do something about racism in every field, but I can sure do something about it in baseball."        

But Rickey’s ambitions put him at odds with many others in baseball management. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a judge, opposed Rickey’s proposal for a farm system, thinking it would ruin the existing minor leagues. But his perseverance ensured the survival of the farm system, along with many other beneficial changes to baseball including spring training facilities, batting cages, pitching machines and new statistical measurements for measuring effectiveness. Rickey’s gamble on Jackie Robinson paid off with Robinson wining Rookie of the Year honors and his Dodgers going to the World Series. 

Yet Rickey paid the price for making his enemies. He was forced out of the Dodgers organization and faced resentment from other team owners and management.  So if we define heroes as those who do something selfless on behalf of others, who is the real hero who broke the color barrier of major league baseball?   Shouldn’t we have a Branch Rickey day?  

But that’s not how racism works.  Black racists need to take every opportunity to remind America how underprivileged and oppressed blacks are, and how white people owe them for the crimes of the past. And white people, trying to assuage a conscience of guilt for not having their own history of oppression, jump on board to 'atone for the sins' of a generation they neither created or supported. Soon to be released is the movie "42", which will again enshrine Jackie Robinson as the champion of civil rights- the 'David' who slayed the white 'Goliaths' of race.  Expect Oscar nominations, no matter how bad the acting or directing actually is. 

   

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if next year on Jackie Robinson day, if one of the dozens of players interviewed would depart from the script of “Jackie breaking the color barrier” and give some credit to Branch Rickey for making it possible?  And even more refreshing will be the day when we stop treating black accomplishments like something unnatural and unexpected and instead treat them as ordinary members of the human race. 

The Other Reason April 15th is Memorable

Most of us in the US know April 15^th as tax day, the day when federal and state personal income taxes are due.  But starting in 2004 major league baseball declared that on April 15 of each year, every player in every game wears number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, the Texas oil baron who sacrificed fame and fortune to be the first black professional baseball player. No, wait – he was a research chemist working on a vaccine for leukemia.  No, that’s not it either… perhaps he was a concert pianist and composer who gave up his career for the social advancement of his race? 

Well, actually none of those is accurate.  Jackie Robinson was just a good athlete who was the first black offered money to play baseball.  He wasn’t necessarily better than all other black players before him, it wasn’t that he sacrificed some greater calling to prove a point about race, it wasn’t that he organized a march on Washington, refused to give up his seat on the bus, or risked being thrown in jail to be a historic champion of civil rights.  He just agreed to live the dream of tens of thousands of other kids who wished they could get paid for playing a game they loved. 

So why do we need a Jackie Robinson day?  What was the selfless and heroic act he represented that blazed the way for all future black athletes?  Well, racism was definitely strong in major league baseball in the 1940s. No official rule existed that banned blacks from joining the league, but no team had been willing to sign black players despite their demonstrated success in the Negro league.   For sure, Mr. Robinson would face resistance from fans, players, media, and maybe even his own teammates for invading a ‘white sport’.   But let’s not forget, he wasn’t picking up garbage or shining shoes, he was playing baseball for money.  I have no quarrel with Jackie Robinson; by all accounts he was a great player, a great teammate, and never folded to the temptation of lashing out at his antagonists. 

Let’s be honest, who had the most to lose when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers?  A strong case could be made for Branch Ricky, a white business manager who took the risk to break ranks with the fellow owners and league officials by signing a black man. But you probably never heard of Branch Ricky¸ even though he is recognized as the innovator of the major league farm system, for signing the first Hispanic player, for encouraging the expansion of the league by adding new teams, and for instituting the use of baseball helmets.  Rickey was quoted as saying "I may not be able to do something about racism in every field, but I can sure do something about it in baseball."        

But Rickey’s ambitions put him at odds with many others in baseball management. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a judge, opposed Rickey’s proposal for a farm system, thinking it would ruin the existing minor leagues. But his perseverance ensured the survival of the farm system, along with many other beneficial changes to baseball including spring training facilities, batting cages, pitching machines and new statistical measurements for measuring effectiveness. Ricky’s gamble on Jackie Robinson paid off with Robinson wining Rookie of the Year honors and his Dodgers going to the World Series. 

Yet Rickey paid the price for making his enemies. He was forced out of the Dodgers organization and faced resentment from other team owners and management.  So if we define heroes as those who do something selfless on behalf of others, who is the real hero who broke the color barrier of major league baseball?   Shouldn’t we have a Branch Ricky day?  

But that’s not how racism works.  Black racists need to take every opportunity to remind America how underprivileged and oppressed blacks are, and how white people owe them for the crimes of the past. And white people, trying to assuage a conscience of guilt for not having their own history of oppression, jump on board to 'atone for the sins' of a generation they neither created or supported. Soon to be released is the movie "42", which will again enshrine Jackie Robinson as the champion of civil rights- the 'David' who slayed the white 'Goliaths' of race.  Expect Oscar nominations, no matter how bad the acting or directing actually is. 

   

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if next year on Jackie Robinson day, if one of the dozens of players interviewed would depart from the script of “Jackie breaking the color barrier” and give some credit to Branch Ricky for making it possible?  And even more refreshing will be the day when we stop treating black accomplishments like something unnatural and unexpected and instead treat them as ordinary members of the human race.