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I need a tittle
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As MLB was preparing itself for Jackie Robinson day on Thursday April 15, marking the 63rd anniversary of the day when Robinson became the first African-American player to openly play in baseball's modern era, Orlando Hudson remarked on Monday that there is still an element of racism in the game. The percentage of black players in baseball hit an all time low of 8.7% in 2007 and the rise the following year to 10.2% represented the first increase since 1995 but that was not the angle that Hudson, the second baseman for the Minnesota Twins, was identifying. Rather then their representation in the major leagues, he was inferring that there is prejudice regarding pay when black players reach free agency.
Wisely electing not to make any mention of CC Sabathia, who in 2008 signed the biggest contract of any pitcher in MLB history, Hudson cited the cases Jermaine Dye and Gary Sheffield as an indication that there is still a color barrier in baseball. Those two players represent non-premium free agent veterans rather than a younger premium talent so perhaps that is the Hudson angle that in the case of journeymen type players, MLB owners apply wage discrimination to black players.
His beef about Dye is that he was paid $11.5 million by the the Chicago White Sox in 2009, hitting 27 home runs with 81 RBIs along the way, and he couldn't find a team that would take him for $5-6 million. Dye himself knew he would have to take a pay cut and was prepared to go as low as $4 million for a job this season with a contender but the highest offer didn't even get to $3.5 million and that was by the Washington Nationals. Does that mean racism is at play?
Since Washington play in the National League, that leaves no DH position open for Dye which is a problem. As good as the 27 home runs might sound, he posted career lows of AVG and SLG in any of his ten full seasons in the majors - and then there is his sub-par fielding to consider. Looking at his 2009 statistics, his dollar worth to the White Sox was -$1 million. That's right, he was so bad he should have been paying them to play. Taking a statistical average of his last three seasons, which included a reasonably respectable 2008, his average worth to the team was only $1.5 million per season. Bearing in mind the fact that his fielding really drags his market value down, Dye's best fit would be as a DH for an American League side. That would change his statistical worth last year to $0.7 million and an average $1.9 million for each of the past three seasons - still nowhere near the wage he was expecting.
Hudson also mentioned that Gary Sheffield while referring to him as a first-ballot Hall of Famer - is also unable to find work in 2010. Sheffield, the 41 year old slugger named in the Mitchell Report, played for the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets over the past two seasons and his value to his team was an average $1.2 million per season; even taking the last five years his value was only an average of $4.5 million per year (and his actual wages were significantly more than that).
So either baseball truly does still have black and white race lines or maybe certain players, and perhaps their agents as well, value their worth at a significant premium to their true market rate. In the case of Dye and Sheffield, the latter is clearly true. So let's enjoy Jackie Robinson day when, for the second consecutive year, all players and uniformed team personnel are invited to wear #42 as a mark of respect for Robinson. One one hand for breaking the color lines in baseball but for me, representing a master of the lost art of stealing home which he managed 19 times in his career, with none of those being double steals. Here is one of his finest, in game one of the 1955 World Series as his Brooklyn Dodgers were down 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning and he stole home with 2 outs; although they went on to lose that game, the Dodgers won the World Series that year, the only ring he would win in his career.
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Wisely electing not to make any mention of CC Sabathia, who in 2008 signed the biggest contract of any pitcher in MLB history, Hudson cited the cases Jermaine Dye and Gary Sheffield as an indication that there is still a color barrier in baseball. Those two players represent non-premium free agent veterans rather than a younger premium talent so perhaps that is the Hudson angle that in the case of journeymen type players, MLB owners apply wage discrimination to black players.
His beef about Dye is that he was paid $11.5 million by the the Chicago White Sox in 2009, hitting 27 home runs with 81 RBIs along the way, and he couldn't find a team that would take him for $5-6 million. Dye himself knew he would have to take a pay cut and was prepared to go as low as $4 million for a job this season with a contender but the highest offer didn't even get to $3.5 million and that was by the Washington Nationals. Does that mean racism is at play?
Since Washington play in the National League, that leaves no DH position open for Dye which is a problem. As good as the 27 home runs might sound, he posted career lows of AVG and SLG in any of his ten full seasons in the majors - and then there is his sub-par fielding to consider. Looking at his 2009 statistics, his dollar worth to the White Sox was -$1 million. That's right, he was so bad he should have been paying them to play. Taking a statistical average of his last three seasons, which included a reasonably respectable 2008, his average worth to the team was only $1.5 million per season. Bearing in mind the fact that his fielding really drags his market value down, Dye's best fit would be as a DH for an American League side. That would change his statistical worth last year to $0.7 million and an average $1.9 million for each of the past three seasons - still nowhere near the wage he was expecting.
Hudson also mentioned that Gary Sheffield while referring to him as a first-ballot Hall of Famer - is also unable to find work in 2010. Sheffield, the 41 year old slugger named in the Mitchell Report, played for the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets over the past two seasons and his value to his team was an average $1.2 million per season; even taking the last five years his value was only an average of $4.5 million per year (and his actual wages were significantly more than that).
So either baseball truly does still have black and white race lines or maybe certain players, and perhaps their agents as well, value their worth at a significant premium to their true market rate. In the case of Dye and Sheffield, the latter is clearly true. So let's enjoy Jackie Robinson day when, for the second consecutive year, all players and uniformed team personnel are invited to wear #42 as a mark of respect for Robinson. One one hand for breaking the color lines in baseball but for me, representing a master of the lost art of stealing home which he managed 19 times in his career, with none of those being double steals. Here is one of his finest, in game one of the 1955 World Series as his Brooklyn Dodgers were down 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning and he stole home with 2 outs; although they went on to lose that game, the Dodgers won the World Series that year, the only ring he would win in his career.
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