One of the oddest things about the recent brushup involving Gary Sheffield's remarks about "control" and "Latino players" is that I found out he had a book that just came out, titled "Inside Power".  Odd, since usually books by athletes are more publicized, but in any case I made the trip out to the bookstore and read the book yesterday.  Here are some interesting notes I took:

The More Things Change...the less they change.  Here is an except for a chapter called "The Chase", which is all about Gary as a young boy watching Hank Aaron go after Babe Ruth's record with his grandfather:

"Why would anyone hate Hank Aaron?" I asked.  "He's a champ."
"He's a black champ who's proud to be black.  He ain't scraping and he ain't bowing.  There are people who can't accept that attitude."
"Why?"  I wanted to know.
"Ignorance, that's why.  Plain old stupidity.  Most white people are fine, but there's a large and loud number of white folk who hate to see the home run record of one of their own go by the board.  They think the color of their skin makes them superior.  Well superior has nothing to do with skin color.  It has to do with talent.  And no one has more talent than Hank."

Bowie Kuhn, commissioner of Baseball, didn't bother to attend the game.  Hank also told the press that Kuhn didn't even send as much as a telegram congratulating him.  Hank was ticked off.  So was Grandpa. "Don't tell me that's not racism."

Grandpa pointed to another article that said Aaron wasn't giving his seven hundredth home run to the Hall of Fame.  "You know why he's not giving it to them, Bug?" [Shef's nickname was Bug]
"No, sir".
"Because when he gave the Hall his five hundredth and six hundredth balls, they never acknowledge the gifts.  This is Hank saying "I'm tired of being disrespected.  I'll keep this one for myself."

"Come here," he said after Hank hit his 711th.  "You know how many people came to see Hank play last night in Atlanta?  A little over a thousand.  The paper says that's the smallest crowd in Braves history.  You'd think the ballpark would be sold out every night, watching this man get closer to the biggest record-breaking moment in baseball history.  But no...".

A lot of it sound familiar?  Yeah, I know, there are "reasons" to hate Bonds.  I'm not saying that Bonds is as dignified as Hank Aaron.  Nor am I saying that what Bonds is going through is similar to Hank Aaron.  Still, 30 years ago people were able to find plenty of reasons to hate Hank Aaron, and looking back at it now, most people are embarrassed that sports fans at that time behaved that way.  Makes you wonder how people in 30 years will look back at this moment in baseball history.  I've already said this before, but history will look back on Bonds more favorably than the current reaction he gets, from the media, from "fans", etc.  

Sheffield on watching Pete Rose make an error at a Reds game:

"The memory of those fans at Al Lopez Field cheering on Pete Rose after that error would stay with me for the rest of my life.  As a young boy, I learned that the job of baseball fans is to cheer their heroes, even during bad times.  As a young boy, I was taught that players, especially those skilled enough to be major leaguers, are to be revered, honored and encouraged, especially when the going gets rough."

Later on Gary gets called up to the majors in Milwaukee, and soon afterwards is booed, for failing to live up to expectations, and he contrasts that to what he remembered as a child.  Sometimes I, too, wonder when childhood support becomes adult entitlement.  I certainly understand that it is a fan's right to boo at the stadium.  As a non-athlete, though, it doesn't strike me as a big deal - see, we go from being children rooting for our favorite athletes to being adult fans cheering, and booing our teams, generally looking at athletes in a different manner from the way we viewed them as children.  There's no discongruity there.  But it might be different for an athlete like Sheffield, who goes from being a child fan of professional athletes to being a professional athlete, and not understanding that "fans grow up", I guess.

Here's an except on his early days as a pro: 

"When I became a pro, I expected the pitchers to throw with a lot more heat.  The wiggle [in his batting stance] was  a way for me to hold back.  Doc threw at 95 mph.  These guys were lucky to reach 80."

Sheff was definitely trained to be a professional baseball player.  Doc Gooden did most of the training.  It's nice to finally hear the origin of his weird batting stance. 

There's a chapter about his early career in Milwaukee.  On season he injured his foot trying to get back to first.  He was misdiagnosed by the Brewers' doctors, and played in pain and sucked.  Around this time owner (and current MLB Commissioner) Bud Selig put out an $7 million contract offer.  But Sheffield sucked with his injured foot, and was sent down to the minors.  Still in pain, he contacted a Player's Union doctor, who found that he had a fractured foot.  Sheffield filed a grievance with the union, and was returned to the Brewers roster and then placed on the DL, but at the same time Bud Selig's offer was pulled.

Bud Selig made Gary Sheffield!  Upon learning firsthand about the business side of baseball, and how money is the biggest factor in all decisions, young (and naive) Sheffield had two questions:  "How can I maximize my revenue?" and "How can I increase my wealth?"

Shef had positive things to say about former managers Tom Trebelhorn (Milwaukee) and Greg Riddich (San Diego).  I was a little surprised at that, considering his rep.  He also talked positive about Wayne Huizenga (former owner of the Florida Marlins), though he was upset that Huizenga had to do the firesale after the 1997 Florida Marlins World Series win.

Upon being traded to the Dodgers, a trade he could veto because he had a no-trade clause, Gary was unhappy with the management in LA.  Mostly he was upset because they were trading Mike Piazza to get him, making him feel like they weren't building a real contender.  When he meets with the Dodgers, he demands they make the trade "equitable" for him.  In this case, that means since Florida has no taxes, and California does, he wants the Dodgers to pay his taxes.  And to buy him a house, since California real estate is expensive.  In the end the Dodgers end up giving him another $5,000,000 ($2.5 million being paid for by the Marlins).  For the record, this is very much common place in international soccer, for a traded player to get a "relocation bonus".

He hates Daley and the Dodgers management.  After a bad negotiation, Daley crucifies Sheffield in the press - they call him selfish, spoiled, and impossible.  In case you were wondering where the negative stuff about Sheffield as a player originated.

Interesting tidbit I found out - I hadn't realized that while in Florida during the offseason many years back, Gary Sheffield was shot during a failed carjacking attempt.  He was driving around his old neighborhood in Tampa, a notoriously dangerous area, when a man came up to the window of the car and tried to jack him.  When Sheffield refused, he was shot (through the glass window)... the bullet didn't penetrate, and it was just a flesh wound to his chest and shoulder.  He was very upset with the coverage of the shooting by the press, especially since some members of the media implied that it may have been a gang-related hit, or that Sheffield in some way might have brought it upon himself.

There is a lot of positive stuff about Terry Pendleton, a former MVP (the guy who prevented young Bonds from winning 4 MVPs in a row back in his Pirates days) who was Sheffield's teammate for a few years, and how he was a calming influence in Sheffield's career. 

On Barry Bonds:  He criticizes Bonds as a control freak.  While they were working out together, Sheffield said Bonds would not allow him to have any say; Bonds determined the exercises, the time for breaks, the time Sheffield would eat, what he would eat; Bonds would pick him up, drive him around, and book his tickets if they were traveling.  Sheffield pretty much calls him a sick control freak.  He also makes it clear that he has no use for steroids, no want for them, and that he used a cream that Bonds gave him once for a muscle injury, and that he has no idea what the cream was, or if it was a steroid or not.  

Finally, at the very end of the book we get to what we were looking for: a chapter called "$40 million dollar slaves".

"This is the title of a book I recently read.  It's by Bill Rhoden (of the NY TImes)...."

It's a very small chapter, about two pages long.  He quickly mentions that MLB is losing African-Americans, that they have shrunk from 20% 10 years ago to under 9%. 

Then he talks about how his father was fired from his job right before he made his 30-year plateau, which would have earned him a pension.  He wanted his father to sue, but he wouldn't sue.  It's basically another example of the racism he sees as a black man.

When Sheffield's comments first came out last week, I didn't understand what he was trying to say.  There was no context, and no specific details - he didn't make it clear what he was saying.  At first I figured that the quotes (from a GQ article) may have been taken out of context.  Now I think that he might have purposely throw out the quotes to bring publicity and attention to both his book and more importantly his point.

See, Sheffield is acutely aware that he is a black man.  And that he has a negative reputation among the press.  He's no fool who is unaware of how he is perceived.  So if he says something controversial like what he said last week, he knows how the media will react - it's not like he had no idea this firestorm was coming.  My guess is he was banking on it.  Within 24 hours he had his clarification ready, giving the story just enough time to blow up, and then he could start spinning it.  I mean, let's not forget that we are talking about an athlete who has been dealing with the media for 20+ years; he's no fool.  And I'm sure he has a PR agent who checks every interview, every story - I might be naive, but I think there is a pretty good chance Shef and his crew saw this coming.

So 24 hours after the story breaks (someone leaked the story to the press, right?), he's out there "clarifying his story".  And Carlos Guillen is there to back him up, and thank him for saying something.  And then Torii Hunter is there to back up Sheffield, claiming that in 10 years there will be no African-American baseball players.  Seems to me that Sheffield was trying to draw attention both to his book, and his larger point, which is that baseball has stopped investing in developing African-American baseball players in the US, and instead is spending (less) money on developing Hispanic players from Latin America.

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