Posted on 06/06/2003 9:51:36 AM PDT by presidio9
Racial bias in the press has blown out of proportion the saga of Sammy Sosa and his corked bat, Pedro Martinez said yesterday in defense of his fellow Dominican.
``We may be Latin, a minority, but we are not dumb. We are not dumb, we see everything that happens,'' said an agitated Martinez during an extended venting session in the visitors' clubhouse at PNC Park before last night's Red Sox-Pirates game. The intense media coverage of the Sosa episode also touched another nerve with Martinez, who said he also has felt the sting of racial bias from the media.
When Martinez walked into the clubhouse, the TV was tuned to ESPN and much of the coverage was devoted to the fallout from the corked bat Sosa used in a game on Tuesday.
Martinez needed no prompting to begin expressing his concern at the vilification of Sosa. Martinez all but agreed with comments uttered by former major leaguer Jose Canseco, a Cuban-born slugger who has been suspected of steroid use. On ESPN Wednesday night, Canseco questioned that if Sosa were white and his bat were found to be corked, there would not be nearly the same level of hysteria.
When Martinez was asked what would have happened if this were to happen to Mark McGwire, he said, ``it would still be a big deal but not like this.''
Martinez said since X-rays of ``a hundred'' of Sosa's bats had turned up no further cork, he wanted to see a reverse smear campaign to repair Sosa's reputation.
``I want to see the same campaign to go on, to put him up, to justify the mistake, I want to see the same campaign,'' said Martinez. Asked about the chances of that happening, Martinez made a circle with his fingers and said, ``Zero, (expletive) zero.''
Martinez said he had watched all of the ESPN and Fox specials regarding Sosa. Those who expressed anti-Sosa comments earned scorn from Martinez.
``Those two (reporters on ESPN), you can read jealous, you can read envy, you can read anger,'' said Martinez. ``Even that guy at Fox, this guy said, `Hey, let's go, smile,' as if that's something that's supposed to be fun. (Expletive), I'm going to go and hunt the guy down.
``One guy turned so red, he looked like a lobster, a steamed lobster.''
When Sosa said on Wednesday that the media had ``got me up there like I'm a criminal,'' Martinez felt that Sosa, whose command of English is not as good as Martinez', could have benefited from speaking in his native Spanish on this issue.
``I know Sammy from my heart and I know Sammy as a person and Sammy does not express himself well and does not know how to communicate well enough,'' said Martinez. ``But I know him and I know he can speak, I know in my heart he wanted to say something else.
``They should have had someone to translate and have Sammy talk from his heart, how he feels. We are in America, I understand, we don't speak the language but we are doing the best we can to express ourselves. I am not defending him because it is illegal (using a corked bat). But I have never cheated but I have been (expletive) robbed.''
Martinez being ``robbed'' was a reference to him being denied the American League Cy Young Award last year - he finished a close second to Oakland's Barry Zito - and also finishing a close second in the 1999 AL Most Valuable Player Award voting.
Martinez said he did not believe that Zito or '99 MVP Ivan Rodriguez were undeserving of winning but he could not understand how he did not place in the top three on some voters' ballots and not appear at all on the ballots of two voters in 1999.
``I was robbed too and no one stood behind me,'' said Martinez. ``The Cy Young could have gone either way but some guys decided not to vote for me. Why did no one make a campaign for me?
``If I were Roger Clemens, would he have won the Cy Young last year?'' asked Martinez. ``I want someone to stand up for me.''
Martinez recalled that ESPN commentator Peter Gammons last fall was supporting Zito for the Cy Young.
Gammons, according to Martinez, said, ``I'm going with Zito because I'm tired of seeing the same face. We need a fresh face. Here's a guy (Zito) who plays guitar, he's cute, he's a white Caucasian. That's why he had his campaign against me for the Cy Young. The same thing for Sammy.''
At the time that Canseco claimed a "conspiracy" to keep latins out of baseball more than half of the guys on his Oakland squad had Hispanic surnames.
And I think that's going to irritate more people than simply accepting the suspension and moving on.
``I was robbed too and no one stood behind me,'' said Martinez. ``The Cy Young could have gone either way but some guys decided not to vote for me. Why did no one make a campaign for me?
Would you like some (expletive) cheese to go with your (expletive) whine?
Geez, what a cry-baby!
I believe that if Mark McGwire had been found to have used a corked bat during his 70 home run season, there would have been even a bigger media frenzy and even more criticism as a result. Jose Canseco is a typical minority racemonger: if one of their own people gets caught doing something wrong, they cry "racism!".
It only takes one, dipwad!
Most baseball fans get their wine from a box with a spout.
As far as the racial question is concerned, Jose Canseco is indeed white Cuban ("Hispanic/Latino" is NOT a race), while Sosa and Pedro are both Afro-Dominican (the Dominican Republic is over 90% black or mulatto).
Pro-sports in general are filled with overpaid crybabies.
Reminds me of a story in high school. My best friend (born in America to Colombian parents) once answered a classmates statement on how "immigrants are ruining this country" by stating "not as bad as what your ancestors did to the Indians." I of course informed my friend that it was more likely that HIS ancestors slaughtered Indians rather than our Irish American classmate. He conceded my point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.