ESPN's Buster Olney has a column today (you can read it here, though it is tagged as Insider... I somehow managed to access it, so I'll post the related bits here) entitled "Joe Torre and Race", but it's really not about that. It's more about "Gary Sheffield, his big mouth, and leave Joe Torre alone".
Buster starts off his column by using the Sheffield quotes from the Real Sports interview ("Black players had an issue with Joe Torre", and in response to whether he thinks Joe Torre is racist, "No"), then talks about how Darryl Strawberry thanked Joe Torre "for being there for him" during the Yankees' 1999 victory parade.
This is cool and relevant - Darryl Strawberry is an outspoken supporter of Joe Torre. In today's NY Post, he's quoted as saying "Joe Torre was great to me" and "I had a great relationship with Joe and still have that today." When Strawberry was suspended by Bud Selig for drug possession and soliciting a prostitute, Joe Torre was among those supposedly pushing for his suspension to be lighten.
Later on in the column, though, Buster Olney disappointedly resorts to cheap rhetoric to make his point. He's right to point out Sheffield's history of "picking verbal fights" since that is relevant to this story, but notice how he then finds a way to make Sheffield even more negative without ever presented a fact:
Some like Sheffield, some can't stand him, feeling he doesn't respect the game. "The most selfish player I've ever been around", said one staff member.
That's the sentence. Nothing more is presented regarding the basis for the opinion of this "staff member". By the way, what is a "staff member"? A Yankee staff member? An ESPN staff member? You see how one throwaway line can change the tone of the entire article. This line is complete garbage. There's never been any issue about Sheffield's "respect (of) the game" ever. He's one of the most outspoken critics of steroids (we'll cover that in a bit), so what does that even mean? That he doesn't respect the business of baseball? Yeah, he's been known to spout of about the business of baseball, and the shadiness of some of the owners. And he's been right on every count to this point.
Not to mention I don't understand what "most selfish player" means, either. Does he mean to imply that Sheffield doesn't share with other players? That he doesn't make time for them? Because for all his talk, Sheffield is liked by a large amount of players in the game. That is a fact... calling him selfish lacks context.
Buster Olney then finishes his column with a clear message:
But in this case, Sheffield's words about Torre are sharp and vicious, whether he meant them to be or not. It feels like he is slinging around words recklessly -- hurtful words which, when coming from a star player like Sheffield, can label someone for life.
That message? Joe Torre is my boy, and I'm not gonna let you talk sh*t about him, regardless if it's just your opinion, or if you might even be right. Don't you dare smear Joe Torre's reputation.
Oddly enough, he fails in this entire article to address the incidents cited by Sheffield as the basis for his beef with Joe Torre: The public love for Vladimir Guerrero when Sheffield was signed instead, and the team meeting issues.
Well, actually, to be fair Buster kinda address the team meeting issues:
Sheffield cites moments in which he was called out in team meetings for making mistakes. Again, he was there, I wasn't, and he is entitled to think what he wants to think. But Torre's way of handling slumps, sometimes, is to call out the best players -- the players who he believes possess the most confidence to deal with criticism; it's a way of drawing all the players together. If he picks on only the youngest and most fragile players, like a Clay Bellinger or an Andy Phillips or a Colter Bean, then he would have no credibility. He's criticized Clemens in meetings and Jeter and O'Neill and Williams.
Maybe Torre is guilty of misreading how Sheffield would take this. Or maybe Torre is guilty of not liking Sheffield, in particular; other players -- white, black, Latin -- have privately felt that he didn't like them, in particular. But in four years of covering Torre, I never once had a sense that he had less or more regard for any player based on race. His instinct is to like people. Some managers and coaches grow to dislike players intensely as they get older; Joe is not like that. This is a trait which separates Torre and Bobby Cox from some established managers.
Fair enough. But keep this in mind - Alex Rodriguez, too, has had some problems with the way Joe Torre has handled him. He's kept his mouth closed, and probably will, until he's no longer on the Yankees, but you know he wasn't happy about being dropped to number eight in the lineup in the playoffs. And earlier this year, the NY Daily News had a back page headline - "Shut Up" - after Joe Torre criticized A-Rod for distracting a Toronto player while he tried to catch a pop-up. Don't think that Sheffield is the only "star player" with some "hurtful words" about Joe Torre. Let's see what happens if Alex Rodriguez speaks out, whenever that might be.
Also related: unmentioned by ESPN or Buster Olney, but Kenny Lofton was quoted by the AP yesterday as saying "All I can say is, Sheffield knows what he's talking about. That's all I'm going to say." Worth noting, as it is relevant.
Gary Sheffield is one of those players who spouts off a lot, but he is generally truthful and straight forward. He doesn't care about image, and because of it he has been one of the most honest players over his career, far more honest than most mainstream media writers.
Sheffield, in his book, on steroids, for example:
I've never wanted them. From the get-go, I've frequently mouthed off about their negative impact on the game.
I knew what was happening. Everyone did (emphasis is Gary's, not mine).
I was accurately quoted as saying that we were giving the public a false picture of the game.
I asked the Commissioner to investigate. He paid no attention to me.
I complained that the players were banging home runs in August and September like it was April and May. They were showing no signs of fatigue. Something was right.
Gary Sheffield may not be the easiest guy to manage, or "control", but you have to admit that it's nice to hear honest, no BS from an athlete who doesn't care about his image. His words don't ruin or tarnish Joe Torre's accomplishments; they are just the opinions of a black player who felt he and the other "all the way" black players on the team were treated different. Even if he's right, it doesn't make Joe Torre a racist. Like I said, I'm sure there are others that felt they weren't been treated the way they would like, or fairly - it's not that uncommon in the workplace. Show me one supervisor whose employees all feel they are being treated equally. Sheffield might attribute it to his skin color; honestly, other black players have had a good relationship with Torre (Darryl Strawberry, but we have yet to hear from Cecil Fielder, Doc Gooden, or Charlie Hayes, just to name a few). We know Ruben Sierra (Puerto Rican) and Raul Mondesi (Dominican) have had their beefs over the years with Joe Torre. We can speculate that Alex Rodriguez (Dominican-American) might have his issues with Joe Torre. I think we can guess that A-Rod probably feels he's not treated by Joe Torre the same way Derek Jeter is.
Bottom line: Gary Sheffield may be on to something (see Lofton's quote), or he may just be falsely attributing why Joe Torre didn't like him to the wrong cause. Most likely, Joe Torre just really wished Gary Sheffield was Vladimir Guerrero from the get go, and never warmed up to Sheffield. None of this changes what Joe Torre has accomplished, so I really don't see the need for the Buster Olney column. None of this changes what Gary Sheffield has done, either - he's a true gamer as a player. He played the second half of the 2004 and the playoffs with a shoulder injury that need biweekly cortisone shots, and that he couldn't above his head. Not too many players in the game would have played through the injury, and at such a high productive level. Despite all his contract beefs in the past, when it's game time, he's given his best (since Milwaukee anyway - yes, he admittedly made some dumb decisions in Milwaukee because of his anger at the situation), and never sat out with injuries. One day he'll likely make the Hall of Fame. Not everyone gets along in a work environment. This is basically one person spouting off about an old boss they didn't like, and whether he's right or not, he's just stating it like he saw it.
Leave a comment
|
9 Comments
Comments
Derek Jeter is only half -black so he doesn't count?
Anyone who makes such a racist comment has zero credibility. If you want to retain yours don't defend this gentleman.
Hey Tom, appreciate your feedback. He said that Derek Jeter is "not all the way black", and implied that made a difference in the way Joe Torre treated him versus other black players.
He never said Jeter is "only" half black, you did.
I don't think the comment is racist, though it is insensitive. And to say an African-American talking about how he perceives the way his supervisor treated African-Americans has "zero credibility" is very short-sighted.
Nor am I defending him. I'm not piling on and calling him "a loud mouth idiot" or any of the stuff that I've read in other places. There's a difference. I'm being impartial (as opposed to Buster Olney) and explaining what he's saying, and why, using his own words from the past. Then I took that, and put it in the context of a workplace disagreement, to give it some perspective.
Like I said: Gary Sheffield may be on to something (see Lofton's quote), or he may just be falsely attributing why Joe Torre didn't like him to the wrong cause.
Brian: That was a mistake he admitted to making as a youngster in Milwaukee. He's been very honest about it, and admitted it was a mistake. Since then he's never fail to give 100%, period. Aren't you a Yankee fan? Didn't you see him out there in 2004, playing with a bad shoulder. Did he ever complain about it? If that was Paul O'Neill or some well liked Yankee, the media would have sainted him. Let's not forget that was the same postseason you know who got sainted because he pitched a game with a bloody ankle. Yet playing more than two months with a severe shoulder injury is not as praiseworthy....
I'm not taking anything away from the guy as a player, I was just responding to your statement that there's never been a question about his respect for the game. There was, at one point.
SML
Half-black or "all the way black" is just the same. Your parsing like certain talk-show guys do when they are on shaky ground.
It is hardly a newsflash that African-Americans have been treated poorly. For GS to put himself in this catagory shows a remarkable lack of historic sensitivity.
I am an african-american and a realist. See its funny to me how people who are not a minority by heritage always want to talk about what is racist and what is insensitive. For those that don't know Sheffield has a son who is bi racial and he was quoted as saying he would say the same thing about his own son. The reality of the situation is this, historically light skinned black people have been treated differently than dark skinned black people. There was a such thing as a brown paper bag test back in the day and if you were lighter than that bag you were treated better by not only white people but also by other black folks. Now this isnt my opinion, this is a fact! People look at Derek Jeter and arent sure what his ethnicity is and i have seen that for a fact because I was there when he met some latino women who thought he was a latino also. The truth is this, Gary Sheffield didnt just come up to Andrea Creamer with this topic, SHE initiated the conversation and he just spoke his mind. Now the very interesting fact is that while all of the white guys in the media aside from Mr. Lupica (the black guy on PTI actually at least said it was possible) were yelling at the top of their lungs that Torre was not racist (Which Sheffield himself even said) No current black player or recent Yankee who was black has been interviewed and has said that Sheffield was wrong. As a matter of fact the only active black player who has said ANYTHING on the subject has agreed with Sheffield. So maybe some of these non minority people need to ask themselves "why do i NEED for Torre to not treat players differently because of race" Maybe its your own guilty conscious
It is a good timberland 6 inch boots thing that the God Who made us is not impatient with people like me with my timberland shoe company orchid. He lovingly thinks about us all the time timberland boots and he even temporarily gave up His heavenly home and his timberland traditional handsewn hold on diety to die for the sins of timberland mens custom world nearly 2,000 years ago. His death back then covered the sins of every cheap timberland boots person who will ever live. He then rose to life after three mens timberland chukka? days and ever since has wanted us to accept His gracious act by loving Him and also those around us. When we do this, we will see people in a totally different timberland womens premium boots light — one that redefines what it means to be ugly or different or weird or strange. Instead, we see people with ugly timberland shoes store problems in whom God is working so they can bloom beautifully — just like I now see in my orchids whether they are “lumps” or blossoms! On a certain timberland work shoes day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our timberland wheat shoes lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, *ing the minutes for timberland for you loitering --waiting, waiting, waiting for the station. http://www.timberland4you.co.uk/
http://www.brandshoeshopping.com/ cheap air jordan shox
Air Jordan Ol School III 5/8 Spring 2010 Jordan Brand changed the Flight 45 from a low/mid slice to its new hightop configuration, and is now going in undo for to the Ol School III. The Air Jordan Big Fund 5/8 will be distributing next leap in a two population of the colourways youd expect. First up is the pitch black nubuck couple pictured atop that benefits the correct shade of colour plan of the brought up Air Jordan Big Fund UJG Edition 310003 110, added to a translucent outsole segment that peaks up Triax-style to uncover a heel Air cushion. The other couple is in addition pitch black, but moves with Carolina sky-blue accents. Last but not slightest is the obligatory white metallic bright nod, which lets depart in March. Expect those sprayed Uni-blue connections in February, along with the pitch black red pair. http://www.nikeairjordansshoes.com/
There's never been any issue about Sheffield's "respect (of) the game" ever.
Admitting you purposely made errors because you were in a feud with ownership was, is and should always be construed as a lack of respect for the game.