In my profile, I state that Willie Mays was a greater player than Babe Ruth was, because Mays played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
The wind at Candlestick can be so nasty as to blow homeruns back into the park, while Hank Aaron would eventually play in a hitter-friendly park where the wind would "assist" in a home-run.
My dad and uncle still talk about the Giants from the 1960s. My uncle does so affectionately; my dad, not so much.
He would ride his bike from San Jose to train station and ride up to Candlestick Park and sit so close to centerfield that Mays could literally "say hey" to him. To him, Mays was out there playing just for him...and well, there weren't too many other fans there, so that does seem like a reasonable feeling.
When Mays left the Giants, so did my dad's fandom for the Giants. If the Giants couldn't win with Mays, they never would.
The Giants won the pennant In 2002. After a year of griping about how much the Giants suck to people at Antolini's Supplies, I made my dad wear a Giants hat to Antolini's.
They still think it's good luck.
Meanwhile, my uncle is still caught in a memory loop involving Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
People will argue that Ruth was the greatest because he was a pitcher in Boston, until he was traded to the Yankees where he became a hitter. At the same time, Mays played the most difficult defensive position—where players weren't expected to be good hitters—and was also a great hitter.
In some cases, Mays could catch fly balls in right or left field.
Recently, Mays appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I was surprised when Stewart asked Mays if he thinks he could have hit more than 800 home runs, because Candlestick is not a hitter friendly park.
His answer was no.
Nevertheless, Mays did assert that he would have passed Babe Ruth. Interesting. Had Mays passed Ruth, would Hank Aaron have bothered to pass Mays?
Think about it.
Part of the reason that Aaron bothered to pass Ruth was as a way of showing once and for all that African-Americans could compete at a high level in Major League Baseball.
A disturbing fact is that baseball scouts used to look for, "the good face." Meaning that scouts would look for a player whose congeniality seemed to be blessed by God, and thus, he "must" be blessed to be a great player.
Of course, professional baseball was also hostile to non-white players, which would suggest that pro-baseball thought that non-white players were damned to hell.
But that's not racism (nervous chuckles), you're just a Godless heathen that's doomed by fate.
Carrying on...
But if Mays had been first to pass Ruth, would Aaron have even bothered or would he have contently retired sooner than he did? Interesting.
For those of you who have never been to Candlestick Park, it is like being in a wind tunnel—back into the park. Very uncomfortable. Sometimes I'm surprised that the Wave started in Oakland and not San Francisco as just a way of staying warm.
Connect the Dots
Bad jokes aside, it also reminds me of the career of Barry Bonds. After all, Mays is the godfather of Bonds.
Perhaps I was supposed to remember this, but back in 1998, I remember a news lead in for a local station that mentioned Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all neck and neck for the home-run race in July of that year.
Obviously, Bonds fell off the map, and ever since I have wondered about the validity of a nagging suspicion that Bonds would use steroids because well, he felt left out in the cold.
Coincidentally , 1998 was the last season in which Bonds stole more than 20 bases. I state that because I do believe that there is a correlation between the decline of stolen bases and Bonds' use of steroids.
Obviously, I refer to Bonds' use of steroids as if it were established fact, when Bonds has never admitted to juicing.
Nevertheless, for most of his career, Bonds played around 180 pounds before "shooting up" to 220. To my knowledge, Jose Canseco has not claimed juicing by Bonds.
I do surmise that Bonds had long seen what was going on with juicing, but didn't give in until McGwire and Sosa would overshadow him. Especially, since nature was literally against Bonds' chances of breaking the record.
In other words, I'm saying that Bonds thought he could collect his stats naturally, until it became clear that the public didn't care that McGwire was using steroids.
I say that, because I also still remember the jokes on late night TV about McGwire's steroid use, because at the time, players weren't trying that hard to hide it.
Furthermore, in what I like to call a Pop Culture Pun (PCP), McGwire appeared on an episode of The Simpsons called "Brother's Little Helper" (1999) in which Bart is given pills called Focusyn.
Towards the end Bart is freaked-out on pills and uses a tank to shoot down an MLB satellite that collects market data on people.
McGwire is quickly choppered in and admits, "Bart was right, we are spying on you, pretty much 'round the clock."
Bart: "But why, Mr. McGwire?"
McGwire: "Do you wanna know the terrifying truth? Or do you wanna watch me sock a few dingers?"
Crowd: "Dingers!"
Funnily enough, Bart would also state earlier in the episode that he needs, "every brain cell blazing to outwit my invisible enemies!"
Seems to ring true with my experience writing for the Bleacher Report.
Hear that Jay Mariotti? Of course you did. Now put down your tin foil hat and stop trying to read the mind of Al Davis.
The Point
I do believe that racial bias transcends time in such a way to create a nexus between players affected by racial bias.
I also remember thinking in 1998 about how I wanted McGwire to beat Sosa. When I asked myself why it mattered, I couldn't think of a good answer, other than the fact that he used to play for the Oakland A's.
Used to.
Why did it matter as to whom took the record? If a record indicates greatness, then it shouldn't matter. And yet, it did. McGwire of course took the record in 1998. In 2001, when Bonds was threatening to surpass McGwire, I also remember wanting him to fail.
Why? I could tell myself that the Summer of '98 was a special one that included great drama between two hitters chasing a record, while Bonds merely competed with himself.
I think the truth is, white people selfishly want to see white people as greats, and that "greatness" is not an egalitarian absolute truth. Some would probably accuse me of projecting, and they might be right.
Might be.
Nevertheless, I do know that growing-up, many of my friends have been non-white. So, I can only imagine what someone with mostly white friends would think.
Bonds thought that no one cared about juicing, bcause no one cared when McGwire did it. Fans just wanted to see "greatness." Well, unless that player is black, then fans are just virtuously protecting, "hallowed recrods."
In all fairness, black people want to see black people as greats. You may wonder what the answer to that racial conundrum is. My answer is, well, "Just win, baby!"
And forget about the effin' stats.
Perhaps then, the MLB satellite monitoring all of our activities will tell marketing departments that people only care when a team wins, rather than be forced to go where the money goes and protect the reputations of white players in popular sports and trash black players in any sport.
Then again, not every team can win.
In that system, not every team would be profitable.
But, "Do you wanna know the terrifying truth?"
"Dingers!"
http://wtso.net/movie/23-The_Simpsons_1102_Brother039s_Little_.html
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