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Media Views: Claiborne's "racist" label sparks controversy
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | August 13, 2005

Posted on 08/17/2005 9:40:40 AM PDT by Irontank

Last week, the Cardinals ended months of speculation and posturing by announcing that they will be moving their radio broadcasts from KMOX, where they have been since 1955, to KTRS - much to the consternation of many fans.

This week, the controversy has moved to sports-talk radio station KFNS, as afternoon drive-time co-host Mike Claiborne had a contentious interview with Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller - with Feller hanging up after Claiborne called him a racist. Later, when discussing the incident, Claiborne used an expletive in describing Feller.

Feller, 86, was on the show Wednesday, discussing his baseball career and his days in the military. He then was asked by co-host Kevin Slaten to address what is right and wrong with baseball today. Advertisement

Feller talked about players not knowing the fundamentals, then said, "A lot of the players coming from the Caribbean, they don't even know the rules." He continued by discussing how hype and entertainment, including music and manufactured noise, have become commonplace at modern ballparks.

Claiborne then interrupted, asking Feller to clarify his comment about Caribbean players - which came in the same week a talk-show host in San Francisco was fired for talking about "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly."

Several times, Claiborne asked Feller to specifically explain which rules he was talking about. Feller became irritated with Claiborne trying to pin him down and finally said, "If you don't be quiet, I'm going to cut this off."

Claiborne shot back, "You can cut it off right now as far as I'm concerned, you racist." Feller hung up.

In an interview, Claiborne said he had no regrets about using the word "racist."

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: baseball; bobfeller; politicalcorrectness; racism
Pretty crummy way to treat Bob Feller IMO...an elderly baseball legend and, more importantly, an American WWII war hero who left his baseball career in his prime to join the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor.

According to Wikipedia:

On December 8, 1941 Feller enlisted in the Navy. He was chief of the gun crew of the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service in World War II, being decorated with five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars. Many baseball historians have speculated that Feller would have won perhaps 350 games with well over 3,000 strikeouts had he not joined the military.

1 posted on 08/17/2005 9:40:40 AM PDT by Irontank
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To: Irontank

I've met Rapid Robert, and I thank him for his service to our country, but he is not a very nice man. Racist? I don't know that; I've never seen anything to say so. But he is brusque, rude, and unfriendly, even when you bring him in to sign autographs for fans.


2 posted on 08/17/2005 9:46:05 AM PDT by TBP
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To: TBP
I heard the cut and I want to be that sharp at 86. He wasn't being a racist, he was just being a cranky old Hall of Fame pitcher who still knows what he's talking about.
3 posted on 08/17/2005 9:48:21 AM PDT by Thebaddog (How's yer dawgs?)
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To: Irontank

In WWII we had a lot of celebrities/sports figures volunteer.

In our current war, we had Pat Tillman.

Sad.


4 posted on 08/17/2005 9:50:39 AM PDT by stylin_geek (Liberalism: comparable to a chicken with its head cut off, but with more spastic motions)
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To: Irontank
I just felt the direction he was headed certainly gave me all the indication that that's what he was, and that's what he is."

I think it was the direction that the host was trying desperately to lead Feller.

A lot of these Sports Show hosts are real lefties. Sports, weather and traffic are about the only jobs lefties can get in radio.

5 posted on 08/17/2005 9:50:53 AM PDT by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
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To: Irontank
Claiborne shot back, "You can cut it off right now as far as I'm concerned, you racist."

Hey Mike. As far as I'm concerned, you're a homo. (It doesn't feel so hot to be accused of something without evidence does it?)

If some of the players from Central America don't know english, doesn't it stand to reason that some don't know all of the rules either?

6 posted on 08/17/2005 9:56:20 AM PDT by Niteranger68 ("Spare the rod, spoil the liberal.")
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To: RacerF150

They know the rules. Feller is just rambling. The only rule they may not know is the one about steroids.


7 posted on 08/17/2005 9:58:54 AM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: Mike Darancette

" A lot of these Sports Show hosts are real lefties. "

There's a simple rule for this. If you have a Sports Show host who has not made a living as an athlete himself than he is a lefty.

That doesn't mean there aren't some former athletes who are also lefties, but the proportion is a lot lower.


8 posted on 08/17/2005 10:06:14 AM PDT by Moral Hazard ("Now therefore kill every male among the little ones" - Numbers 31:17)
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To: TBP

I remember him having a big spread out in Gates Mills a while back.


9 posted on 08/17/2005 10:06:35 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: AppyPappy

Feller is 86..is he totally all there?...


10 posted on 08/17/2005 10:07:56 AM PDT by ken5050 (Ann Coulter needs to have children ASAP to pass on her gene pool....any volunteers?)
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To: TBP
I've met Rapid Robert, and I thank him for his service to our country, but he is not a very nice man. Racist? I don't know that; I've never seen anything to say so. But he is brusque, rude, and unfriendly, even when you bring him in to sign autographs for fans.

I, too, have met Bob Feller. I was doing interviews of celebrities and athletes for a station at a golf tournament. They would bring in the "stars" to be interviewed when they had a break. I did this for several years and had a terrific experience with every single person I interviewed, except one. Bob Feller. He sat down as I was speaking and I took a commercial break and said something to the effect of "We'll be right back with Hall of Famer, Bob Feller." Then I shook his hand and told him we'd be right on after a couple of commercials. He said something to the effect of "I aint' waiting for no F'ING commercial!" I politely told him it would be literally be ONE MINUTE. He basically said "Get me on now! OR F'ING forget it!" I simply told him, "Ok, Mr. Feller, we'll let you get on your way". No way was I going to put the rudest person I had ever met on the air with me. He immediately stomped off dropping more F-bombs as he stormed away. I have no idea if he's a racist, but I DO know he is an A-1 jerk. I had no clue of his reputation before my attempted interview, but I've heard many similar stories since, so this was not some isolated incident where he was having a "bad day".

11 posted on 08/17/2005 10:11:40 AM PDT by GLDNGUN
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To: Irontank

I understand all that. However, I've met many WW2 men who are very polite and respectful. One's military career doesn't give license to behave badly imho.


12 posted on 08/17/2005 10:17:43 AM PDT by cyborg (I'm having the best day ever.)
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To: ken5050

Maybe not. Sounds like an episode of crotchety behaviour.


13 posted on 08/17/2005 10:19:09 AM PDT by cyborg (I'm having the best day ever.)
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To: AppyPappy
"They know the rules. Feller is just rambling. The only rule they may not know is the one about steroids."

The rambling racist?

14 posted on 08/17/2005 11:41:29 AM PDT by Niteranger68 ("Spare the rod, spoil the liberal.")
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