Still a White Man’s Sport
Seventy years after Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball, the game has yet to embrace black culture.
By Lawrence Ware
Black culture is American culture, and the flamboyance of players in the Negro Leagues was a major part of why that great American institution was so beloved. Unfortunately, as black athletes integrated baseball, major-league players and fans did not embrace much of what made the Negro Leagues unique. Many teams, for instance, warmed up by miming baseball moves with great flamboyance, a practice known as playing “shadow ball.” Players in the Negro Leagues wowed the crowds with their convincing reactions to balls that were, in fact, not there. But when they made it to the majors, shadow ball ceased to exist.
As William Rhoden noted in the New York Times in 2014, Robinson didn’t leave the style of the Negro Leagues behind when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. His “speed and daring,” particularly his steals of home, were a trademark of black baseball. “At that time, [white] baseball was a base-to base thing,” Negro Leagues legend Buck O’Neil said in an interview for Ken Burns’ documentary Baseball. “But in our baseball … if you walked, you stole second … you actually scored runs without a hit.” Robinson’s aggression on the base paths infuriated his opponents, particularly the white ones. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Russ Meyer, annoyed at watching Robinson dance off third base, yelled, “Go ahead you nigger, try to steal.” Robinson did try. He was safe at home.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2017/04/seventy_years_after_jackie_robinson_mlb_is_still_a_white_man_s_sport.html
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