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Friday, March 03, 2006
Baseball and the Negro Leagues
My new obsession with "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" (and my short-lived career as an aspiring sports columnist) have left me unable to duck the story with which KO's been obsessed all week -- the inexplicable snub of Buck O'Neil for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. It says everything that need be said about Buck O'Neil that he's volunteered to speak on behalf of the 17 Negro League-affiliated people who were elected to the Hall, all of whom have since passed away. He's that kind of guy.
And now, Congress is getting involved. That always bodes well for MLB...
Anyway, there isn't much to say on this topic that hasn't already been said. But this is emblematic, for me, of a larger problem that baseball keeps having -- it's strange but true relationship with the Negro Leagues.
I would have thought, when Les Expos relocated to Washington one season and one winter ago, that baseball would have jumped at the chance to use D.C. as a way to celebrate the heritage of the Negro Leagues. After all, one of the Negro Leagues' most storied franchises -- the Homestead Grays -- often called D.C.'s Griffith Stadium "home."
Now, with news of the Nationals' trademark problems, and the very real possibility that the "Nats" will have to change their name, I'll reiterate the proposal: Call Washington's baseball team the "Grays." Make the new stadium, to be built right on the Anacostia River, a showplace for the history of the Negro Leagues. Finally accept that these players were, for a generation, as good as anyone, and better than most.
And elect Buck O'Neil to the Hall of Fame.
Posted by Steve Vladeck on March 3, 2006 at 03:01 AM in Steve Vladeck | Permalink
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Comments
Keith Olberman
Posted by: alkali | Mar 3, 2006 9:00:09 AM
(Ack ... premature post ... sorry about that)
When they were co-anchoring Sportscenter, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick did a book called "The Big Show" about Sportscenter that was basically a moneymaking gimmick -- after all, how much can you say about Sportscenter? In any event, they were apparently pretty desperate for copy, and so about 50 to 70 pages in the middle of the book -- a sort of book within the book -- is O.'s extended critique of who is and who isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He's fairly obsessed with the topic.
Posted by: alkali | Mar 3, 2006 9:04:10 AM
There is already a showplace for the history of the Negro Leagues: It's the place Buck O'Neil built, in Kansas City, MO. See http://www.nlbm.com/s/index.cfm . (Not that there can't be more showplaces, but, if one wants to honor Mr. O'Neil, well, memberships are available...)
Posted by: Thomas | Mar 3, 2006 9:28:33 PM
If Buck O'Neil is a Hall of Famer, it certainly is not as a player. There are many un-elected Negro Leaguers with better credentials.
What exactly would he be elected for, then? He was a manager, but not Hall of Fame caliber. He didn't invent anything (on the field, or off). I like O'Neil, but I can't see him as anything more than a tremendous ambassador for the Negro Leagues. Are there any other Hall of Famers elected simply for being goodwill ambassadors? I can't think of any.
Before the campaign to elect Buck O'Neil based on being a nice guy gets too far down the road, I'd prefer we elect Minnie Minoso or Home Run Johnson...someone with credentials.
Incidentally, MLB has faltered again with this election. The selections are not bad ones, but there are two significant problems with the election:
(1) they added 17 people in the same year, which tends to detract from the attention each person ought to receive. Imagine how much more attention Biz Mackey would get if they elected two to three players a year for five or so years? He'd be one of two or three getting the ink, not one of 17;
(2) they included Effa Manley in the group. I'm not saying she is a bad selection. Just that when you elect the first woman to the Hall of Fame at the same time you elect 16 others, you can bet the 16 others won't get any significant press.
I'd rather be discussing what fine ballplayers Willard Brown and Biz Mackey were, but that does not appear to be happening. On SportsCenter the headlines on the day of the election were all about Manley. And then commentators talking about the "snubs." So much for celebrating the Negro League players.
Posted by: Jeff | Mar 6, 2006 12:17:50 PM
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