yeah, it was pretty ugly. Just a decade earlier, it wasn’t too pretty for Maris when he was chasing Ruth’s 60 (though Mantle would have been acceptable to most). Throw in a black guy and things got even worse for Hammerin’ Hank. But to pretend it would be a problem now is just ludicrous. Hell, people don’t even acknowledge Bonds “passing” Aaron, because Aaron’s record has people’s respect. That alone should be proof enough this theory is crap. Yeah - people really hated Henderson when he beat out Cobb. Hell, people hated Cobb for being racist pr!ck. THis writer needs someone to explain baseball history to him.
Cobb’s own teammates couldn’t stand him. Nobody liked him. When he died, virtually no one showed up for his funeral.