04/15/2026 6:40 pm EDT Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

[casimir]

[romad1]

We have now beaten an American league team.  I own a copy of the book above.  It is not for sale. 

[casimir]

Its Jackie Robinson Day.

[casimir]

28 minutes ago, romad1 said:

We have now beaten an American league team.  I own a copy of the book above.  It is not for sale. 

I read that book for a book report in grade school.  I don't think the teacher was happy that I chose it.  But she audibly laughed when I read aloud Sparky's entry about clinching the division.  He got cut by a bottle of champagne and remarked how the mixture of blood and bubbly looked good on his jersey.

[Crazy Cat Gentleman]

I hope the boys all got their taxes done and don't have to rush to finish up before gametime.

[romad1]

37 minutes ago, casimir said:

Its Jackie Robinson Day.

Dude deserves his day to be sure. 

[oblong]

I have to do my taxes tonight.  

I have my thoughts on Jackie Robinson day.  It's great we honor him and what he had to go through and he deserves all of it.  But I've always felt that the way MLB frames this is an attempt to absolve them of the reason we need a Jackie Robinson Day.  There's one reason we have this day and it's because MLB was run by a bunch of racists who didn't want blacks in baseball.  Jackie didn't break the color barrier because "finally we had a qualified back person that could play".  He broke it because of the courage of some to decide it was time.  Still others didn't believe that and orgs like Boston and Detroit held out even further.

[Motor City Sonics]

 

[romad1]

4 minutes ago, oblong said:

I have to do my taxes tonight.  

I have my thoughts on Jackie Robinson day.  It's great we honor him and what he had to go through and he deserves all of it.  But I've always felt that the way MLB frames this is an attempt to absolve them of the reason we need a Jackie Robinson Day.  There's one reason we have this day and it's because MLB was run by a bunch of racists who didn't want blacks in baseball.  Jackie didn't break the color barrier because "finally we had a qualified back person that could play".  He broke it because of the courage of some to decide it was time.  Still others didn't believe that and orgs like Boston and Detroit held out even further.

They should have an Andy Messersmith day? 

All the things you say are true.  He is a reflection on the bigotry.  But there still had to be that one guy who broke that barrier.   Hank Aaron had to face death threats for breaking the Babe's record.  Willie Horton had to try to mollify a mob in his uniform.  America has and will suck regarding race relations.   Plenty of evidence about.  Be it woke virtue signaling or actual bravery in the face of ignorance...I'm giving him the nod. 

[romad1]

Just now, romad1 said:

They should have an Andy Messersmith day? 

All the things you say are true.  He is a reflection on the bigotry.  But there still had to be that one guy who broke that barrier.   Hank Aaron had to face death threats for breaking the Babe's record.  Willie Horton had to try to mollify a mob in his uniform.  America has and will suck regarding race relations.   Plenty of evidence about.  Be it woke virtue signaling or actual bravery in the face of ignorance...I'm giving him the nod. 

Particularly in a country that has a Confederate History month in the month those traitorous losers lost the civil war. 

[oblong]

it's not a criticism of Jackie but a reminder of why we know of him beyond being a great player.  When we say he broke the color barrier what we mean is he was picked by racists as acceptable in an attempt to make it look like they were righting their wrong.  To me it's like someone writing a check to charity for domestic violence support after being discovered as an abuser.

 

[IdahoBert]

3 hours ago, romad1 said:

We have now beaten an American league team.  I own a copy of the book above.  It is not for sale. 

I have that book too. 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

I have to do my taxes tonight.  

I have my thoughts on Jackie Robinson day.  It's great we honor him and what he had to go through and he deserves all of it.  But I've always felt that the way MLB frames this is an attempt to absolve them of the reason we need a Jackie Robinson Day.  There's one reason we have this day and it's because MLB was run by a bunch of racists who didn't want blacks in baseball.  Jackie didn't break the color barrier because "finally we had a qualified back person that could play".  He broke it because of the courage of some to decide it was time.  Still others didn't believe that and orgs like Boston and Detroit held out even further.

Also, the Yankees. Remember what Casey Stengel said about Elston Howard.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

it's not a criticism of Jackie but a reminder of why we know of him beyond being a great player.  When we say he broke the color barrier what we mean is he was picked by racists as acceptable in an attempt to make it look like they were righting their wrong.  To me it's like someone writing a check to charity for domestic violence support after being discovered as an abuser.

 

It's debatable how racist Branch Rickey himself might have been—he was born in 19th Century America, after all, so even if he were in, say, the least racist 10% of the white population of the time, he almost surely still engaged in a paternalism borne of the assurance of an entrenched superior racial status.

But it is also completely understandable that Rickey had to be very careful to choose the one black player who would be the most acceptable/least unacceptable to the out racists among his colleagues. There were any number of other players Rickey could have selected who would not have had the fortitude to withstand the brickbats of the first two years and, as importantly, to finally stand up for himself on the field starting in year three. That third year was crucial in the development of black player acceptance, because it paved the way for Jack and the others to be regarded as a player same as everyone else, and not just as a novelty colored player.

RIP Jackie Robinson.

[IdahoBert]

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Also, the Yankees. Remember what Casey Stengel said about Elston Howard.

I had to look that up… sheesh…

 "I finally get a n*****, and I get the only one who can't run"

[chasfh]

5 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

I had to look that up… sheesh…

 "I finally get a n*****, and I get the only one who can't run"

And he said it in public! And it was considered OK!

[IdahoBert]

Getting back to the weather… so, have there been any tornadoes or massive flooding yet?

[Tiger337]

When Von Hayes went to the Phillies. Pete Rose said: "I was suprised to find out that you were white because everybody told me how fast you were." To give the devil his due, Rose was not racist though.  He reportedly went out of his way to befriend Black players at time when things were still segregated.  

[gehringer_2]

28 minutes ago, chasfh said:

And he said it in public! And it was considered OK!

n word was still in very wide currency in '50s America.

[gehringer_2]

25 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Getting back to the weather… so, have there been any tornadoes or massive flooding yet?

we lost a wall off the local indoor ice rink (about a mile from here), the UM Hockey Arena lost part of its roof. The high winds were very localized - we had incredible sheeting rain but very little wind at our house.

[CMRivdogs]

In September 1 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded a team of 9 Afro American, Latin players.

Two regulars were injured (Richie Hebner and Gene Alley)

My grandfather started calling the team the "Gray's" after the historic Negro League Team 

https://www.mlb.com/history/negro-leagues/teams/homestead-grays

 

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

n word was still in very wide currency in '50s America.

I had friends that used it in the early 70s.  Whenever a fight broke out among us, they would shout out "Fight, fight, n***** and a white".  I never thought it was funny and knew it was wrong.  I don't know whether that was a common expression at the time or whether it was just them.  I had some friends from weak familiies.  My house was was the main gathering place for my group of friends.  I figured out out later it was because my parents were nice to them.   

[Sports_Freak]

49 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Getting back to the weather… so, have there been any tornadoes or massive flooding yet?

Sirens and very LOUD phone alerts woke me out of a sound sleep at about 1:30 AM. I finally got up and went to the basement at about 2 AM when thunder totally woke me up. I had just settled in when the lights went out. Luckily, I had the brains to take a lantern down there with me. 10 minutes later, the light came back on. The tornado warning (not watch) was over at 2:30 AM but I stayed down there until 2:50 or so. I was pretty surprised I fell back asleep, usually after waking up I toss and turn.

[Sports_Freak]

32 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

n word was still in very wide currency in '50s America.

In the 70', Canada had little black licorice candies called n..... babies.

[oblong]

55 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

When Von Hayes went to the Phillies. Pete Rose said: "I was suprised to find out that you were white because everybody told me how fast you were." To give the devil his due, Rose was not racist though.  He reportedly went out of his way to befriend Black players at time when things were still segregated.  

In Bouton's book he relayed a story Joe Morgan told him about Rose.  Rose had slid home but was called out. Back on the bench he told Joe "If I was black I'd have been safe".  Joe said "If you were black you wouldn't have had to slide"