Posted on 08/27/2006 8:33:58 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
When former Cubs reliever LaTroy Hawkins tried to get Billy Williams to read one of the racist letters he received, Williams refused.
''I didn't want to read it,'' Williams said. ''So he told me its content. People might be angry, but they don't need to revert to that. Someone has to be sick to sit down and write a letter and try to get personal.''
Williams, who broke into the big leagues with the Cubs in 1959, had his own way of dealing with mail.
''When I looked at the envelope and didn't see a return address, most of the time I threw it in the trash can because I knew what it was about,'' he said. ''There probably was more [hate mail] written in the 1960s than today, but I don't know.''
MINORITY REPORT
What some Cubs and ex-Cubs are saying about the racism issue at the Friendly Confines: Dusty Baker, Cubs manager: ''I got hate mail in San Francisco, too. Nobody wants to hear about it or talk about it.''
Billy Williams, Hall of Famer: ''There's more jealousy now because of the contrast in the money the players are making. If you're a person working a 9-to-5 job, you're not making near as much money as the players are.''
LaTroy Hawkins, former Cubs reliever: ''People calling your mother a raccoon or you a porch monkey. ... To have people threatening to harm us over baseball games just doesn't make sense.''
One would hope that would be the case. But in the last few seasons, there seems to have been no shortage of racially motivated hate mail directed at African-American Cubs.
In a recent interview with USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Hawkins, now with the Baltimore Orioles, revisited the subject of the racist hate mail he received when he played for the Cubs. Former center fielder Corey Patterson, now with the Orioles, too, said he also was subjected to racially motivated hatred in Chicago. Manager Dusty Baker's predecessor, Don Baylor, implied that he was, too. Right fielder Jacque Jones said he has been threatened. And Baker himself has been receiving hate mail since the 2003 season, his first with the Cubs.
''In 2006, you would think people would find other things to [do],'' Williams said.
Is racism rampant at Wrigley Field and among Cubs fans in general?
When a player underperforms, he can expect to be booed by the home crowd. Such was the case for Hawkins and Patterson at Wrigley. Such was the case for Jones, who got off to a poor start this season, his first with the Cubs. Baker, too, has heard his share of boos. But so have plenty of white players and managers who have toiled for the Cubs.
Do fans boo black players more frequently and more vociferously than they do white players? Former catcher Todd Hundley, among others, might beg to differ.
No matter how loud, booing pales in comparison to receiving racially motivated hate mail, a category in which the Cubs appear to lead the majors. Does the situation speak to a prejudiced fan base, a racist Chicago, both or neither?
''You ask yourself, 'Where does this come from?''' said David Andrews, a sociologist of sports at the University of Maryland. ''Cubs fans are so dispersed, with the superstation phenomenon and everything, that it's presumptuous to assume that all Cubs fans are in the Chicagoland area. The hate mail could be from Bora Bora.''
Or, presumably, it could have been written by racist non-Cubs fans -- although it's tough to imagine someone without a rooting interest in the team taking the time to write. Or to make a phone call, as the case might be. Jones told USA Today he recently was awakened by a threatening call. And Baker said he must change his cell-phone number periodically to limit the number of disturbing calls he receives.
• • •
Baker has no interest debating whether Cubs fans or Chicagoans in general are bigoted. Asked about the subject again this week, he stressed that he and his wife like living in Chicago and that the majority of the fan mail he gets is positive. This is old news, he said. Let's drop the subject, he said.
''I got hate mail in San Francisco, too,'' he said. ''Nobody wants to hear about it or talk about it.''
But reporters continue to ask him about it. What is he supposed to do, walk away? Baker always has made a point of being available to reporters, hasn't he?
''If you answer honestly, people think you're an angry man,'' Baker said, ''when you're actually just answering the questions you've been asked -- and answering them honestly.''
People in Baker's position can't win, said Andrews, who lived in Illinois for a number of years and calls himself a Cubs fan.
''In this political climate, people are not allowed to bring attention to issues related to color,'' he said. ''But they're real issues. Yet when [someone talks about it], he's accused of invoking the race card, and there is a mainstream white backlash. There's an inability to want to confront the issues that are going on. That allows racism to be swept under the carpet and not discussed.''
When players such as Hawkins go public with the threats they received, there is seldom an outpouring of support for them. The attitude of the mainstream media and much of the public seems to be that the threats, while inexcusable, are the product of a few random wackos. As for the specific cases of Hawkins and Patterson, they didn't play well. And they were far too sensitive for their own good.
''When an incident like this happens, it's the Jackie Robinson effect,'' Andrews said. ''You're supposed to turn the other cheek and get on with it. Black athletes are encouraged to do that, I think.''
One potential underlying message from the mainstream response is the players got what they deserved. Another potential underlying message is the mainstream is sick of talking about race.
''It's the Tiger Woods factor,'' Andrews said. ''If Tiger Woods doesn't mention race anymore, then no one can.''
But contrast the lack of furor about the Cubs' hate mail with the harsh criticism Baker received after remarking three years ago that black and Latino players could withstand high temperatures and hot sun better than white players.
''Those remarks were questionable,'' Andrews said. ''He deserved criticism for them. But you can't have it both ways.''
Baker recalled a time when his family got calls from people who identified themselves as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
''They said they were going to come burn a cross on our lawn,'' Baker said. ''My dad said, 'C'mon and try it,' and he sat in a rocking chair with a shotgun.''
During a discussion about pitch counts with reporters last week, Baker noted a young Greg Maddux once threw 167 pitches in a game.
''If I left somebody out there 167 pitches, you guys would have lynched me,'' Baker said.
• • •
During any given game at Wrigley, the large crowd is predominantly white. Outside the ballpark, the lone statue is not of Williams or of fellow African-American Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Fergie Jenkins, but of broadcaster Harry Caray, who was, of course, white.
The Cubs can't be blamed for the behavior of bigoted fans, but has the organization done enough to embrace the legacies of its great African-American players? Has it done enough to promote diversity in its fan base? And has it publicly denounced the recent spate of hate mail and threats in strong terms?
Cubs president Andy MacPhail didn't return a call seeking comment for this story, but it's safe to assume that Tribune Co. recently has become hypersensitive to racial issues involving its baseball team. Interestingly, you couldn't find Baker's quote about being lynched in the Tribune Co.'s newspaper because editors substituted the word ''criticized'' for the word ''lynched.''
Has the hate mail directed at Baker and others soured African-American Cubs fans? George Davis of Chicago and Bill Braswell of Gary, Ind., attended the game Wednesday. The acquaintances, both of whom are African Americans, shrugged off the incidents.
''Players are paid a lot of money to produce,'' Davis said. ''If they don't, they probably get hate mail whether they're black or white. I'll bet Andre Dawson never heard stuff like that because he [produced]. And look at Shawon Dunston. He was a big goof-off, but fans loved him. I think it's about the individual player more than the color of his skin.''
But when a white player gets negative mail, he might be called a jerk or a lousy player. When a black player gets negative mail, it often is laced with the N-word -- and worse. That component makes it hateful.
''People calling your mother a raccoon or you a porch monkey,'' Hawkins told USA Today. '' ... To have people threatening to harm us over baseball games just doesn't make sense.''
Many think at least some of the animosity stems from envy.
''There's more jealousy now because of the contrast in the money the players are making,'' said Williams, whose career ended in 1976. ''If you're a person working a 9-to-5 job, you're not making near as much money as the players are.''
That jealousy is heightened when it's an African-American athlete, Andrews said, adding that ''people are uncomfortable with powerful, rich, black athletes. And some elements of society are resentful.''
And some, perhaps even some Cubs fans, choose to express their resentment in the ugliest of ways.
''The social mores are such that you can't use the N-word, but that just pushes racism underground,'' Andrews said. "It doesn't mean it disappears.''
cslezak@suntimes.com
"It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people because most of us come from heat. You don't find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Right? We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat? Your skin color is more conducive to heat than it is to the lighter-skinned people. I don't see brothers running around burnt. That's a fact. I'm not making this up. I'm not seeing some brothers walking around with some white stuff on their ears and noses."
Plus, it seems that "n's" are just thrown around a lot more casually now than they were twenty or even ten years ago.
ONE MORE PING
The Cubs have fans?
I despise the collectivist thinking required for racism (not all people are alike even with the same skin color).
That being said, it's hard to feel sorry for multi-millionaire professional athletes...
Yet Philly gets the worst rap for booing, go figure.
It's hard to think of anyone worse than the fans of the Phillies.
Oddly enough I didn't know that Derrick Jeter was mixed race until he made an issue of it.
Billy Martin got more hate mail than all of these guys put together.
They can whine all the way to the bank!
It wouldn't be to hard to take a bus up to Division or North Ave. drop
it in a box, and high-tail it back down south.
Red Sox fans are in the top five. So are Yankees fans.
LMAO !!!
I'm sure this is just a coincidence, or is it??
In all likelihood, the Cubbies still have more fans than the White Sox.
Ya caught me.
Elwood: Well, it ain't much, but it's home.
Jake: How often does the train go by?
Elwood: So often you won't even notice it.
Jake: How you gonna get the band back together, Mr Hot-Rodder? The cops got your name, you address.
Elwood: No, they don't got my address. I falsified my renewal. Put down 1060 West Addison.
Jake: 1060 West Addison? That's Wrigley Field.
Elwood: I gotta hit the sack.
The rest of the guys mentioned in this article, that's a different story...saying that, it does not excuse racism. Just a comment on ability and commitment.
I remember when Jody Davis was with the Cubs, the media loved the guy.
He would be behind the plate, and the ball would hit his mitt, and
the next thing you knew, he was running back to the backstop to retrieve
the past ball. Next thing you know, the official scorer would call it a wild pitch.
We would always yell at him "Jod..E Jod..E" and he knew we were there, it was
right at the corner of the dugout and the batters circle, first row.
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