Baseball Hall of Fame Induction
So yesterday, I decided to sit down and watch the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. I had been lobbying hard to see Goose Gossage get voted in, and I was very happy to see such a great player elected to such a great honor. I loved all the announcements and introductions of the current Hall of Fame members. On TV, they showed little clips of all the Hall of Fame members’ time in the major leagues. It was incredible and awe-inspiring.
Then Joe Morgan took the stage.
Now Joe Morgan was a great baseball player. He’s a decent announcer (for ESPN). But he’s incredibly racist, too. He never misses a chance to loudly proclaim how “hard” blacks have it. His entire speech was focused on how the black hall of fame members were black, and wasn’t that great? It really bothers me when he focuses more on the race of the person than on their accomplishments. You don’t have to stand up there and point out a single thing about the color of ANYONE’S skin — these people in the Hall of Fame aren’t there because they’re black or white — they’re there because they’re great baseball players.
The guy that got up after Joe kept on the same theme. “Oh, isn’t this guy wonderful because he did good in the negro leagues. He’d have had even better numbers if he’d been allowed in the major leagues earlier.” It just sickened me how much they really went out of their way to try and make me, personally, guilty for enslaving blacks in the 19th century. It was so bad, I had to turn the channel off — which is really sad because I really enjoyed my recent visit to Cooperstown, just last month. Why can’t we just focus on people’s accomplishments and ignore their race?
I used to think that one day we would finally reach a point where race relations might get better. When we reached the point where slave owners and actual slaves died out, I thought relations might improve. Unfortunately, due to people like Joe Morgan who continue to focus only on the race of people, instead of judging people based on their own accomplishments, I’m afraid we’re not going to get there. Thanks, Joe, and thanks, Baseball Hall of Fame, for really messing up what should have been a wonderful tribute to the baseball accomplishments of Goose Gossage and others.
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Ogre, You didn’t see anything unless you watched ESPN’s ESPY awards and their totally over the top congratulations of John Carlos and Tommie Smith and their black power salute in the ‘68 Olympics. They were laying it on pretty thick.
I wish people could see beyond skin color. I guess I’m asking for too much.