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Monday, June 4, 2007
Sheffield offends everyone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Before acquiring Gary Sheffield in 2002, the Braves agreed to a request to void his contract’s option year, allowing him to become a free agent after two seasons.
Imagine everyone’s surprise a year later when Sheffield belabored the pressures of his impending free agency and said: “I can’t go out here and put all my trust and loyalty into something when nobody has given loyalty to me.”
Um, huh?
Sheffield is playing for his seventh team. The thinking is, he keeps running out of shrinks and has to move on to a new city. He is alternately one of the game’s greatest talents and biggest headaches. His mind works like a knuckleball — never dull, sometimes over the plate, maybe off the barn door or through the kitchen window.
After a while, you become numb to it.
“Sheff says he may retire? That’s nice.”
GQ magazine just gave Sheffield a forum for his thoughts.
Fire, meet gas can.
Sorry. But there comes a point when, “That’s Sheff,” doesn’t explain everything, and we just reached it.
When asked in the current issue of GQ about the decline of African-American players in Major League Baseball, Sheffield said: “I called it years ago. What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, and there ain’t no English going to be coming out. [It’s about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them. Where I’m from, you can’t control us. You might get a guy to do it for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end he’s going to go back being who he is. And that’s a person that you’re going to talk to with respect, you’re going to talk to like a man. These are the things my race demands. So, if you’re equally good as this Latin player, guess who’s going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys.”
Al Campanis was run out of baseball after saying African-Americans “may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or, perhaps, a general manager.”
Question: Is what Sheffield said any less inflammatory?
He just demeaned all Latin players, suggesting they’re only here because they’re easy to handle.
He demeaned mostly-white front-office officials, saying personnel decisions aren’t really based on talent.
He sort of demeaned his own race, suggesting African-Americans are harder to control.
At least he’s an equal-opportunity offender.
Richard Levin, MLB vice president for public relations, was asked about Sheffield’s comments. “Consider the source,” he said.
As to whether Sheffield will be disciplined, Levin said, “It hasn’t hit the radar screen.”
This is how we translate: “Let’s see how big the brush fire gets.”
I’m not campaigning against free speech. But racially divisive comments, particularly inaccurate ones, shouldn’t be quietly dismissed.
If you were a Latin player, how would you take suggestions that you’re here only because you’re easy to handle?
Eddie Perez is from Venezuela. He was a teammate of Sheffield’s with the Braves. He said “wow” twice after reading the comments, then shook his head.
“That’s going to hurt a lot of people,” he said. “I don’t know [if he’ll be suspended], but somebody needs to say something.”
Perez wanted to be guarded in his comments, saying, “I’m not a player anymore.” But he added: “I don’t think we’re taking anybody’s food off the table. We’re just putting food on the table for us.
“They’re paying Latin players lots of money. But it’s not because they like us — it’s because we’re doing good. When we play, we play hard. You don’t hear too many Latin players talk a lot of trash.”
Andruw Jones (Curaçao) declined comment. So did two other links to Sheffield’s Braves past, Bobby Cox (though he did roll his eyes) and Terry Pendleton. So did Willie Harris, the Braves’ lone African-American.
Edgar Renteria, a Columbian, played with Sheffield in Florida. He likes him personally but was thrown by the comments. “What is he talking about when he says, ‘control’? What does that mean?” Renteria said.
“Latin players — we come here to play the game. That’s it. We’re not here to be a martyr. We’re here to play the game.”
Sounds simple. Maybe too simple for a mind like Sheffield’s to comprehend.
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