RIP Willie Mays

Damn powerful stuff from Reggie Jackson.

 

That was incredible. He seemed to overwhelm A-Rod, Ortiz & Jeter.

 

And since I asked on teh Twitterez, Reggie! bars are back in production.

 

Started filling in a little more since this picture at a taproom across town.

 

The '80s, from which much of this cohort of players we're thinking of are derived, was a very weird decade. Ten different World Series winners in ten years from 1978-87 (and 12 in 13), plus as free agency set in I think there were fewer guys who became associated specifically with one club.

 

I can't "like" that, but there's nothing like telling like it was.

 

I know exactly what you mean.

 

Only because Pete Rose is not in the Hall. But his jersey is. How pathetic is that.

 

Why men like Reggie Jackson and Jackie Robinson and Bill Russell are important:

Lou Brock and Bob Gibson were the first Black men my grandfather respected.

I’m not saying that seeing Black men play baseball for his favorite team cured him of his racism. But it was important for our society for men like him to see Black people as equals in any forum — not “separate but equal,” the way they were at school or in his military; just “equal.”. It was the first step, and it was an important step.

My generation of my family picked up the baton and we’ve progressed past those dark days. In my large extended family, you won’t find any tolerance for racism among people of my generation or younger. My kids will not accept “that’s just they way they was raised” as an excuse. Brock and Gibson were the reasons why that opening was created for my generation in my family, in a way that MLK or Malcolm X could not have been.

 

I’ve had the thought in recent weeks that I and my generation (the straight ones) are probably at the place with regards to LGBTQ equality that my grandparents were with race relations. My views have changed from when I was growing up and even in my 20s, but I still have to actively work to overcome the thoughts that were ingrained in me, and I’m sure I still vocalize some cringy shit from time to time without meaning to. I’m hopeful my kids will advance the ball further down the field and by the time I have grandkids they will be at the “no excuses” stage.

 

I've always wondered if the decline in the number of black baseball players in MLB is players just get worn down playing in the minors and dealing with this crap. You play football or hoops? You go to college and are adored by thousands while you develop your skills. In baseball, you go back in time to some of these hick towns and wonder why bother?