Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the fact that he’s a designated hitter automatically make him the Anti-Christ?
How can there be Zeus worshippers if there is no Zeus?
No. That position is reserved for either Barry Bonds or the Yankees collectively and individually. Sheffield will have to settle for being one of the lesser demonic powers, probably Belial. 
So if I suggest people of another race aren’t as good as mine but couch it in terms of “cultural traits,” my suggestion is not racist?
There’s a degree of hairsplitting here that defies reason.
Racism is supposed to make sense now? Racism NEVER makes sense; there’s no such thing, biologically speaking, as “race.” Race is a perceived trait, not a real one; you’re racist against people because you think they’re a different race, not because they actually are. It’s an inherently senseless thing.
I’m sure to you, an American whose definitions of “race” have been determined by the course of American history and therefore tends to see all “black” people as being the same race, a Tutsi and a Hutu both look “black.” I assure you those people would likely disagree. And in terms of defining what is and isn’t racism, that’s all that really matters. We’re both white guys, I think, but if I think you’re a different race of me because of the color of your eyes or the shape of your head, I’m a racist.
Frankly, that’s retarded. MLB teams don’t put any thought at all into Latins being “easier to control” because
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It isn’t true, as any fool can see,
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The mix of ethnicities in MLB is rather easily explained by the availability of talent and relative popularity of the sports played in countries and communities that provide MLB with ballplayers,
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MLB teams simply do not have sufficient information to tell what players do and don’t have attitude problems or how they’ll react in different situations, especially prior to the players’ being drafted (which is the only decision point at which you can effect the racial mix of MLB) and, in any event, only very rarely make personnel decisions based on personality. If having an attitude problem or being “hard to control” meant talented players weren’t drafted, Gary Sheffield wouldn’t be a big league ballplayer, because attitude problems have dogged him his whole career. And finally,
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MLB personnel decisions are almost invariably determined by their physical abilities and stats, the mix thereof changing as the player gets older and has more stats to draw upon. If a player looks like he can hit .325 with power, MLB teams will want him even if he’s an axe murderer.
There can’t. Ball back to you. 
Will you people be quiet. He is starting to hit very well. SHHHH
The quote “These are the things my race demands” is racist in my book. So his race is more demanding than others?
MLB is starting to look less like America and more like the world. In Latin America and Japan, it gets a bigger share of the local interest than baseball does in the US, so there’s going to be more kids taking up the game. So a lot of the players don’t speak English? What matters is can they hit the slider or make the diving catch.
Most Latino baseball players are not drafted. The MLB draft covers only residents of the United States and U.S. territories (like Puerto Rico.) The Dominican Republic is the single biggest non-U.S. source of baseball players, around 448 Dominicans have played Major League ball, most of them since the 1970s (many of that number active today.)
Canada is second at 210, then Venezuela is third at 202, followed by Cuba at 153. (Puerto Rico has sent about 220 players to the majors, and as residents of a U.S. territory they were drafted, or at least were eligible to be drafted, if Puerto Rico were a State it’d rank about 21st amongst the 50 states in terms of sending players to the majors.)
He specifically referred to race, not cultural traits.
Recently, someone’s grandmother was talking about how great Japanese baseball players are. If they are easy to control, that that make it more or less racist?
It also covers Canada now (Canada and P.R. were added to the draft at about the same time - for a long time P.R. players weren’t drafted.)
I knew that, of course, and should have been more precise in my terminology.
I hadn’t realized Canada was added to the amateur draft. It makes a lot of sense though as Canada actually has an MLB franchise and several minor league teams as it is.
I’ve heard that several GMs of the poorer ballclubs want a draft that covers other countries as well, but I think it’d be hard to implement.
He used the word “race,” but he was talking about cultural traits. A lot of the Latinos he was talking about are the same color as he is.
I just can’t get worked up about this. Sorry. Sheffield thinks that MLB prefers Latinos to “blacks.” He knows more about MLB than I do. I’ll take his word for it. It makes sense to me.
I think it was more of a cultural opinion about black Americans than a racial opinion about people with dark skin. Yes, he used the phrase “my race.” I don’t care. I think it was just a case of not being very articulate.
If people need to feel like they’re being racially oppressed by Gary Sheffield, though, I won’t stop them
Basically he’s saying “the man” can’t handle us blacks, cause we don’t take no shit, so they prefer the Latins who do take shit. Maybe not racist, but definitely stupid and misinformed. Maybe someone can ask him why this only seems to be happening in baseball, and not football or basketball? Why can’t it be as simple as “black kids nowadays don’t play baseball as much?” Why does he feel a non racist issue has to be racist?
President Bush and his staff know more about Iraq than you do too, you gonna take HIS word for the right way to handle it?
I have a better idea, why don’t you actually think about the issue and form your own opinion before trusing some loudmouth malcontent’s view as gospel.
There are a variety of reasons explaining why black americans are becoming less represented in the ranks of MLB, none of which require an insulting attack on Latinos.
FTR, a lot of disgusting stereotypes could easily be passed over as an attack on “culture” instead of the “race”. Make the distinction if you want, but it doesn’t make it any less of an attack on the people.
Well, you used the term “cultural traits,” but I contend that you are talking about race. Or maybe we could just take folks at their word, *especially *when they are not available for clarification.
Color = race? All the people of the same color are the same race?
It isn’t the what, but the *why *that is at issue here. Do you also take his word that blacks are more manly, less easily manipulated, and more deserving of respect?
If Jason Giambi were to contend that whites are more manly and more deserving of respect than blacks, while being less easy to control, without ever mentioning the word race at all, do you not believe that a firestorm of accusations of racism would be dumped on his head?
Your appeal to authority is noted. Is there any instance in which you would not take the word of someone more versed in a specific field than you?
Is oppression the litmus test for charges of racism? Does racism only exist if it affects me?
Hmm…“my race” does not listen to baseball people coaching them on how to improve, even if they want to benefit, because it’s disrespectful to want them to be better players? And a Hispanic player is less of a man because he’s more coachable than a black player?
Is that more hatefully bigoted toward blacks, or Hispanics? Quien sabe?
Huh? Latino baseball players make less than blacks? They’re cowering in fear of being fired or deported because they’re Hispanic? Not even Sheffield is going that far out on a limb.
There was a story about Sheffield not long ago quoting the opinion that he didn’t deserve the label of troublemaker because his problems were with management while he’s a good guy in the clubhouse.
That doesn’t sound so prescient now.
No they don’t. I know the difference between Sunnis and Shi’ites.
The people he was talking about are largely the same “race” as he is. The differences he was talking about (whether he’s right or wrong) were clearly cultural.
Inasmuch as “race” means anything at all – yes. It’s all about skin color.
I take his word that white execs might think that way. I also don’t think he said anything about blacks being more “deserving” of respect. He just seems to think they’re more likely to demand it.
Sheffield didn’t say that blacks were more “deserving.”
Only if I had a reason to suspect their honesty.
It’s only important if it has some kind of power behind it. racism without power is just pathetic and unworthy of notice.