I am a great fan of Negro League baseball, but the MLB decision to declare them major leagues is wrong. They had teams such as a few of the Pittsburgh Crawfords or Homestead Grays teams that rank among the great teams of all time, among the many Yankees teams (1927, 1939, 1956, 1961, 1998) or Big Red Machine out of Cincinnati in the mid-70s or the Red Sox 2018 for the modern fan with less knowledge of history, or 1970 Orioles if youbelieve pitching is most important. Those Negro League teams had Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Smokey Joe Williams...they could beat anyone, including the above. BTW, your might put a team or two from the Pacific Coast League in the 30s, especially ones with the DiMaggio brothers, into the major leagues as well if you want to go that route.
But the rest of those leagues were not like this. They had teams that would be AA now. They were not top-to-bottom great leagues. Not their fault. The money wasn't good and and good, often very good players could not hang on the road for money that terrible because they had people back home to support. But this is a political, not a talent-based decision. I don't know what it will do to the record books, and I don't much care anymore. Major League Baseball has become a game I do not much recognise, and whatever the hell they do with their Hall of Fame and their records is of only occasional importance to me now. I am curious where Mike Trout ends up in the All-Time statistics someday, but I only check in a few times a year on that. I had my shot at following modern baseball and integrating it into baseball history, and the Negro Leagues I have had a special fondness for. I am content to leave it behind.
I suppose, as professional sports are just popular mythology in the form of entertainment, there isn't much wrong with a decision based on politics rather than talent. They have never been that much more anyway.
I could be wrong, after LO, these many years, but I lost interest in baseball when I was 12. Or there abouts.
ReplyDeleteBaseball's fun if I'm on the field, or somebody I know is. Not that I was ever very good at it, but so what?
ReplyDeleteI never got into Pro BB, and, though I had some interest when younger (read all the kid's books on early players), never had the patience or interest in team sports in general. I liked to play sports but usually the semi-solo variety (e.g., Tennis, Swimming)
ReplyDeleteBut the crap going on these days is insane. How in the fuck people in charge of a 10 billion dollar industry (and another 9b for Basketball) can deliberately behead themselves by pissing off their fans is beyond me...
- OBloodyHell
A lot of it is to keep the players happy, and to the players, it is keeping the people who buy their merchandise happy. Endorsements are less often offered to people who have a noisy minority complaining about them all the time. It's bad for business. Also, players and coaches are both looking toward possible media jobs in the future.
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