Ken Rosenthal Seems to Think the Sox Are Racist.

After reading Ken Rosenthal's piece on the Sox, (http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8670984/Will-non-white-free-agents-shun-the-Sox??CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49) I have some reactions.

First of all, I am not racist. When you come from a place as diverse as I did, you just grow up not caring about race. I could cite specifics but everyone's got a black friend, a Latino friend and so on, and I think that's boring to read about. Second, I am familiar with the Red Sox past as a racist organization. This is the point Rosenthal was trying to bring up, but in the process made the Sox current organization sound racist, and this is what I'm speaking to. Third, I am going to try to be democratic and obvious about this issue, but at the same time I'm going off the cuff, so bear with me if I start rambling a bit.

First, a challenge: Give me your best all African-American Team. Now your best Latino Team. Finally, your best Asian Team. You can even have DH in this one, if you want. Try to go off the top of your head, too. (My answers at the bottom of this column). How hard was it to fill your list? The fact of the matter is there aren't a huge number of African Americans playing in the MLB. There are a lot of Hispanics. Hell there are a lot of Hispanics who look black. But the game is still primarily white and Hispanic. And that's OK. Hell no one complains about the lack of whites in the NBA. That's because black people (for lack of better words) OWN OUR SHIT in that game, and everyone would rather see a good game than forced diversity.

But let's put anecdotal evidence aside. Check out the following: http://inquirer.philly.com/pdfs/2007/MLB_by_race.pdf . Let's assume the racial breakdown is similar to the 2006 numbers (which seems a fair first degree approximation) and see how the Sox stack up. There are 25 men on the active roster, and following are the members on the Sox broken down by race (or who are injured and would be otherwise on the active roster).

Hispanic: Lugo, Ortiz, Lowell (yes he is), Cora, Colon, Delcarmen, Lopez.
7/25 = 28%
League Average = 29.4%

African: Coco Crisp.
1/25 = 4%
League Average = 8.4%

Other: Jacoby Ellsbury (Navajo), Daisuke Matsuzaka (Japan), Hideki Okajima (Japan)
3/25 = 12%
League Average = 2.7%

White: remaining
13/25 = 56%
League Average = 59.5%

Guess what - our white percentage is right on line with league average. Oh, and so is our Latino number! In fact, to make this even we should trade two of our "other" players for one white guy and one black guy to aid our diversity. REALLY!? REALLY!? That seems a preposterous course of action.

I am not sure how someone looks at the Sox and sees a lack of diversity. Is it because Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Mike Lowell, and Jacoby Ellsbury all look white? Does the color of our skin really matter when it comes to our racial background? Is it because Coco Crisp is a fairer shade black than, say, Mike Cameron? I want some answers from Mr. Rosenthal here.

The sad thing is that I usually like Ken Rosenthal. I generally think he's a good sports writer who often has good information and insight, especially when it comes near trade times (the winter meetings and the trading deadline). So what happened here? In a time in this country when we need sports, he wants to sully the experience. The only times in this country when we truly need sports is when we are not doing well. When we have a war, economic crisis, and bad news on every channel, we need sports for entertainment and distraction. So thanks Ken.

The fact of the matter is the Sox front office runs its ship based solely on value. Not on race, shit not even on talent. On VALUE. This ownership wants to win championships and that's that. The piece Ken Rosenthal wrote was a disgusting shot at the Red Sox and their fans. Furthermore, it has become obvious that my 20-30 minutes of research done to write this article that at most a few hundred people will read dwarfs all the research done by Ken Rosenthal on his nationally published column. That'll be Fox News, lowering our expectations yet again.

Written By Vendorball Columnist, Kyle Baxter


For your records, this is what I came up with for teams and benches. This took me 20 minutes to think of (and I only researched the black catchers and some of the Asian infielders).

African-American
3B Chone Figgins
SS Jimmy Rollins
1B Derrek Lee
DH Ryan Howard
RF Jermaine Dye
CF Matt Kemp
RF Ken Griffey Jr.
2B Brandon Phillips
C Charles Johnson (I challenge you to find another catcher)

SP CC Sabathia

IF Prince Fielder
OF Curtis Granderson
OF Mike Cameron
OF Gary Sheffield


Asian
2B Akinori Iwamura
RF Kosuke Fukudome
CF Ichiro Suzuki
LF Hideki Matsui
C Kurt Suzuki
1B Travis Ishikawa
SS Chin-Lung Hu
3B ???????????
C Kenji Johjima

SP Daisuke Matsuzaka


Latino
2B Placido Polonco
SS Hanley Ramirez
1B Albert Pujols
DH David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
3B Miguel Cabrera
RF Vladimir Guerrero
C Geovani Soto
LF Alfonso Soriano

SP Johan Santana

IF Jose Reyes
C Dioner Navarro
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Carlos Beltran
IF Aramis Ramirez