Cubs manager Baker 'meant what he said' (about white players not taking the heat well)

ESPN ^ | July 7, 2003

[Michael2001]

CHICAGO -- Cubs manager Dusty Baker didn't back down Monday when asked about his recent comments that black and Latin players were better suited to play in the heat than white players.

"I meant what I said. ... I try to be as honest as possible, and if that's how I feel, then that's how I feel.'' he told reporters before Monday's game, a 6-3 win by the Cubs over Florida.

On Saturday, in another pregame talk with reporters, Baker said: "We were brought over here for the heat. Isn't that history? Your skin color is more conducive to heat than it is to the lighter-skinned people. I don't see brothers running around burnt.''

Those comments have since prompted debate on radio shows and in newspaper columns across the country.

"It doesn't really matter to me because that's what I said. I'm not going to take it back,'' Baker said. "What I said to you guys is what I said to my team. I told my other teammates this a long time ago, too. When we talk about how hot it is, I told them that's why my ancestors were brought over here, for that reason, and that's history.

"My mother was a black-American history teacher in Sacramento,'' he said. "... A lot of people don't know history, that's what it sounds like to me. If they take it as reverse racism ... then they can take it wherever they want to take it.''

[M. Peach]

If blacks can be superior atheletically speaking (I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that), then why can't other races be more intellectually superior?

[Petruchio]

My point was/is the double standards. As I said in my lte, If a white could not get away with it, that he should face the same treatment.

[xm177e2]

The key is that they have to be both scientifically, provably true statements, and you have to prove that they are relevant to what you are discussing. That's just the cold, hard standard for whether something or not is "racist."

What political correctness is against is "racially insensitivity," which is not the same as "racism." You should still generally try to be sensitive most of the time (as a matter of politeness), but when discussing real issues on FR, we should not worry too much about the appearance of racism, we should look at what really is there underneath.

[jeffrhodes]

Dusty can say what he wants. Free speech. Everyone is way to sensative. Let Dusty be Dusty.