Get political, brothers
Jason Stark has written a valuable article over at ESPN about the potential of Major League Baseball players and owners, normally depoliticized, to speak out and show leadership on the topic of immigration. Our nation's highest professional baseball circuit features 30 teams that are each a fascinating mix of Latinos, African-Americans, and rural whites.Unlike the NBA, in particular, we have received precious little political activism, at least on the left, in baseball. I say 'on the left' because suggestions that baseball is apolitical is a misnomer to begin with. MLB wraps itself in the nationalism of the flag, it glorifies a hyper-militarism, and there's also Curt Schilling. MLB is also acutely political in every community in which it operates by seeking out large-scale tax incentives.
I appreciate the view of veteran African-American infielder Jimmy Rollins, a former league MVP, that he feels a level of isolationism in his clubhouse. I appreciate that pro players in baseball with black or brown skin would experience a greater trepidation in speaking out, blacks because they don't have the numbers, and Hispanics because their presence in this country is a precarious one. I would add to this article that baseball players, in general, are more disposable than athletes in the NBA particularly. Hoopsters like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Steph Curry have put their social consciousness on public display, but each of those high-profile athletes operates from an extraordinarily secure professional position. I can't think of an Hispanic or black baseball player that would be in that position. By nature of the sport, baseball players fail more often on the field of play, also.
I find myself a little empathetic if it's true that there has been too much silence up to this point, and there has. Any of us that have jobs and careers are in a somewhat similar position. Particularly early in this baseball season, players need to feel out their respective locker rooms before they can comment on what the realities are inside of those rooms. I was deeply proud of the newest St. Louis Cardinals player, Dexter Fowler, when he went public with his personal story last week. Fowler offered a muted commentary but the pointed fact that his wife, who is of Iranian descent, is not able to visit her grandmother in the country of her parents' birth. Small world. Some of the rest of us have to deal with that unfortunate reality of today's world that has become less welcoming and deeply suspicious.
Peruse the comment section of the Stark piece and you'll find that most white American baseball fans seem to want their sport free of politics-- politics they don't agree with, presumably. They like that MLB is less militant, as it were, than the NBA or even the NFL. They don't want to hear from Hispanic baseball players about the hardships of immigrating to this country, but that begs the question-- which Hispanics do they want to hear from? It's one of the ultimate examples of white privilege to not expect politics to intrude upon your sanctuaries.
posted by CM @ 7:35 PM
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