The Whitest Team in the Majors

[Maple Leafs]

Oh boy... this should get people talking:

A study by the Star has found that this year's edition of the Blue Jays had the fewest number of visible minorities on the opening-day roster of any of the 30 major-league teams. A Toronto club that boasted of its diversity in recent radio ads actually had the visible-minority players on its 25-man roster drop from 11 on opening day a year ago to only six this season.

... after J.P. Ricciardi was named general manager in November 2001 ... of the 39 players Ricciardi has since acquired through trades, free agency or waiver claims, 36 of them — 92 per cent — are white.

... Of the 21 free agents signed by Ricciardi, the only non-whites have been since-departed outfielder Pedro Swann and recent bullpen pick-up Juan Acevedo. Toronto's only non-white of 13 players acquired in trades was relief pitcher Felix Heredia, no longer with the team. All five of Ricciardi's waiver claims were white players.

http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/Cont...l=970081593064

And a followup from Sunday:
http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/Cont...l=970081593064

Personally... this sounds like a classic case of a newspaper livening up a slow news day by setting out to make the news itself. Still, this kind if publicity can't be good for a team trying to re-establish itself in a tough sports town.

[oykib]

I think that this is a non-story. It's actually pretty stupid.

This info doesn't mean anything unless it's coupled with some evidence of a general disdain of minority free agents and acceptance of racism by players and in the stadium.

THe Mets had a problem with this back when I was a kid. THey went for years with just Doc Gooden and Daryl Boston on their team, while letting go a number of black and latin ballplayers who left with stories of racism.

Spike Lee makes reference to this in Mo' Better Blues when his character Giant is talking to Reuben the bookie.

[andy m]

if they had 25 black dudes on the roster would anyone whine that there were "not enough whiteys"?

[Dutch]

No,

Unfortunately, another American stereotype is that Whites are thicker skinned than Blacks.....

[MIJB#19]

How can the Blue Jays be whiter then the White Socks?

What's next, the Redskins being browner than the Browns?

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by oykib
This info doesn't mean anything unless it's coupled with some evidence of a general disdain of minority free agents and acceptance of racism by players and in the stadium.

Very well put.

[Ksyrup]

I don't remember the exact numbers, but a recent article indicated that the number of black pro baseball players has fallen to the lowest level since the early-mid 50's. I think the percentage of blacks in the majors as of opening day was around 5.8% or something like that. The percentage of whites in the majors is also reaching a new low, with Latin/Hispanic numbers rapidly increasing.

[Mota]

Great sig, Ksyrup. I like that quote.

I read both articles in the paper and honestly today's article really sounds like the Star is backtracking. They tried to make a big deal out of it yesterday (it was the front page story with face shots of the 25 man roster taking up half the page), and today they're saying "We didn't mean anything by it!". Yeah whatever. I lost a lot of respect for the Star this weekend. That article was more tabloid than the Toronto Sun.

[Maple Leafs]

Agreed, it does look bad on the Star, especially after their much-hyped "racial profiling" series on the Toronto police force.

That said, I do think there could be more than just coincidence at play here. It's no secret that Jays' GM JP Riccardi is a Billy Beane disciple. It's also no secret that one of Beane's mantras is going out and getting guys that don't "look" like a ballplayer. If you look at the guys who fit the Beane/Riccardi/Epstein prototype -- guys like Giambi, Hatteberg, Swisher, Jeremy Brown, Catalanatto, Hinske, etc -- they all do seem to have something in common. They're almost always white.

Does that mean Beane and Riccardi are racists? No, of course not. But let's face it, we do stereotype guys based on race in the sports world. Why is every white WR a "possesion" guy? Why is every black QB considered "mobile"?

So here's a thought: Is it possible that Beane et al are taking advantage of the fact that a lot of good players were being dismissed because of what they looked like? And to take it a step further, that for whatever reason most of those guys were white?

[tucker342]

Originally posted by oykib
I think that this is a non-story. It's actually pretty stupid.

This info doesn't mean anything unless it's coupled with some evidence of a general disdain of minority free agents and acceptance of racism by players and in the stadium.

well said

[bbor]

If the say "Any advertising is good advertising" is a truism

Then this will actually help the Jays....Perhaps this will make people of Toronto realize that they have a baseball team...and that they are a very entertaining group of young players.

All in all...for the Jays.it is almost a dream come true for this story to land front page...it is the 1st time this year they have been there in the Star.

To bad the Star chose the wrong reason to put them there.

[Esquared1]

As I Cubs fan, I can attest to the fact Felix Heredia stinks as a MLB pitcher.. .

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs

That said, I do think there could be more than just coincidence at play here. It's no secret that Jays' GM JP Riccardi is a Billy Beane disciple. It's also no secret that one of Beane's mantras is going out and getting guys that don't "look" like a ballplayer. If you look at the guys who fit the Beane/Riccardi/Epstein prototype -- guys like Giambi, Hatteberg, Swisher, Jeremy Brown, Catalanatto, Hinske, etc -- they all do seem to have something in common. They're almost always white.

Does that mean Beane and Riccardi are racists? No, of course not. But let's face it, we do stereotype guys based on race in the sports world. Why is every white WR a "possesion" guy? Why is every black QB considered "mobile"?

So here's a thought: Is it possible that Beane et al are taking advantage of the fact that a lot of good players were being dismissed because of what they looked like? And to take it a step further, that for whatever reason most of those guys were white?

Good points, ML. All of these guys lack at least the same one of the five tools - speed. And in the Beane way of thinking, speed isn't as much of a necessity as other things are - such as plate discipline. That does seem to be their strategy though, to pick up players who may not be swift or "natural athletes", but who are good ballplayers. Who have most of the teams been focusing on lately? I'd say mainly latin players, and increasingly Asian imports. What is a main common denominator among latin players, Dominicans in particular? Little plate discipline ("you can't walk your way off the island"). But these guys have tools, and command a lot of attention. Beane & co. have to do a little more mining to find the hidden gems.

[QuikSand]

Hmmm... so the Ricciardi (via Beane) philosophy is to pursue guys with "discipline" rather than "speed." That does sound an awful lot like the whole not-very-subtle "well this guy's a natural athlete, but that guy is a real student of the game" thing that we see in many sports, divided of course along racial lines.

[Fritz]

Blue Jays had the fewest number of visible minorities

Wonder how many invisible ones they have

[Critch]

Aren't all the US players in the Blue Jays minorities as they are all economic migrant workers based in Canada?

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Hmmm... so the Ricciardi (via Beane) philosophy is to pursue guys with "discipline" rather than "speed." That does sound an awful lot like the whole not-very-subtle "well this guy's a natural athlete, but that guy is a real student of the game" thing that we see in many sports, divided of course along racial lines.

Pretty much, yeah. It goes even further, actually, since Beane will actively take into account how a player "looks". Does he look like a natural athelete? If so, let the other teams have him. We'll take the the dumpy white guy who's just as good, but nobody notices.

[cuervo72]

I don't think there's any racial motivation in it, and I don't necessarily think they're looking for "students of the game". Beane, Riccardi etc. are on tight budgets, and something like plate discipline is often less regarded (and therefore easier to obtain cheaply) than speed, athletic ability, size, etc. They wouldn't for instance have been able to go after a guy like J.D. Drew, who projected to be a stud (and happens to be very much white). Go for the guys everyone is overlooking. To make an NBA analogy, it's like drafting the Richard Jeffersons and Shane Battiers rather than the Kwame Browns and Tyson Chandlers.

Of course, I'll be a little better understanding of their methods when my copy of Moneyball comes in a few days

[Fidatelo]

I think Ricciardi's choice of players is pretty defensible, given the fact that his team has come out of nowhere to somewhat-contend with the Yankees.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by cuervo72
I don't think there's any racial motivation in it...

I don't think anyone is accusing these guys of racism, in the sense that they're sitting around saying "let's not draft any of those rotten black players". I think the interesting thing is that their theories and methods do seem to have an (unintended) side effect that seems to skew drastically towards white players, for a variety of reasons.

[cuervo72]

True. I think it might actually speak more to the opposite, that white guys can't be complete 5-tool players or just aren't as athletic. But that's the thing about baseball - athletecism doesn't always translate into success.

[oykib]

The philosophy is to get players at less than their real value. This is what every team should be trying to do.

In the sixties you had the Giants, Cardinals, and DOdgers picking up undervalued black ballplayers. These days you've got Beane and company picking up largely white ballplayers. The pendulum swings back and forth.

But in reality the idea was not plate discipline. It was value. If you look at the A's now, you'll see a team built on pitching and defense. They've got the big three at arbitration (or lower) prices along with Ted Lilly and another hot property that'll be up next year. That's where there investment is. They play in a pitcher's park and they're picking up a bunch of cheap glove men. He'll probably pick up a few bats at the deadline or in the off-season at bargain basemant prices too.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by oykib
In the sixties you had the Giants, Cardinals, and DOdgers picking up undervalued black ballplayers. These days you've got Beane and company picking up largely white ballplayers. The pendulum swings back and forth.

Don't forget the Blue Jays on the 1980s mining the Dominican for talent. There was a time when the Jays were probably the least white team in the majors, which is perhaps part of the reason why the Star thought this was a story.

[JW]

But some team has to have the least number of minority players. Same in the NBA. Same in the NFL. I don't see the point.