Baker raises heat in unusual way
Rick Morrissey
July 6, 2003
The Cubs had two problems in the first inning Saturday: It was hot, and Shawn Estes was white. Then it cooled off a bit, and Estes was still white. Worse, he was still Estes.
It is Dusty Baker's opinion that blacks fare better in hot weather than whites do. How we arrived at this topic is something of a mystery, but the discussion started with the rigors of day games at Wrigley Field and ended with a Baker commentary on skin color and heat.
Is the Cubs' manager right? There is enough evidence to suggest he isn't, but his theory does give Cubs fans another out should their team fall apart this season. To the normal excuses?too many day games, organizational cheapness, the Billy Goat curse, etc.?you can now add the Wilting White Man theory.
"You have to pretend that you're a construction worker out there," Baker said before Saturday's game. "You have no choice. It's easier for me. It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people. Most of us come from heat.
"You don't find too many brothers from 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 here because we can take the heat?"
Baker is referring to blacks being captured in Africa and sold into slavery hundreds of years ago. They were brought here for no other reason than they were a convenient source of forced labor.
"[Blacks'] skin color is more conducive to heat than it is for lighter skin people, right?" Baker said. "You don't see brothers running around burnt. Yeah, that's fact. I'm not making this stuff up. Right? You don't see some brothers walking around with white stuff [sun block] on their ears and noses."
If you took the converse of Baker's theory, blacks wouldn't have a chance if baseball were played on dog sleds in snow instead of in spikes on grass. Can we add to any more stereotypes here?
And how does any of this explain Antonio Alfonseca, a Dominican who could give up a ninth-inning homer in Borneo or Stockholm?
According to a study by Dr. Robert S. Helman of New York Medical College, "heatstroke affects all races equally. However, because of differences in social advantages, the annual death rate because of environmental conditions is more than three times higher in blacks than in whites."
Another study by the Borden Institute, which researches medical issues in the military, states: "It has been suggested that as a group, blacks are less heat-tolerant than whites. This is certainly supported by U.S. Army medical reports."
I don't want to make any more out of this than what it is?a man talking out loud without checking his facts first. Baker isn't saying the solution to the Cubs' difficulties is more people of color and fewer people of pastiness. He's saying what a lot of people take on faith, that blacks are better suited for work in warm weather than whites are. He just happens to be wrong.
Rick Morrissey
July 6, 2003
The Cubs had two problems in the first inning Saturday: It was hot, and Shawn Estes was white. Then it cooled off a bit, and Estes was still white. Worse, he was still Estes.
It is Dusty Baker's opinion that blacks fare better in hot weather than whites do. How we arrived at this topic is something of a mystery, but the discussion started with the rigors of day games at Wrigley Field and ended with a Baker commentary on skin color and heat.
Is the Cubs' manager right? There is enough evidence to suggest he isn't, but his theory does give Cubs fans another out should their team fall apart this season. To the normal excuses?too many day games, organizational cheapness, the Billy Goat curse, etc.?you can now add the Wilting White Man theory.
"You have to pretend that you're a construction worker out there," Baker said before Saturday's game. "You have no choice. It's easier for me. It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people. Most of us come from heat.
"You don't find too many brothers from 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 here because we can take the heat?"
Baker is referring to blacks being captured in Africa and sold into slavery hundreds of years ago. They were brought here for no other reason than they were a convenient source of forced labor.
"[Blacks'] skin color is more conducive to heat than it is for lighter skin people, right?" Baker said. "You don't see brothers running around burnt. Yeah, that's fact. I'm not making this stuff up. Right? You don't see some brothers walking around with white stuff [sun block] on their ears and noses."
If you took the converse of Baker's theory, blacks wouldn't have a chance if baseball were played on dog sleds in snow instead of in spikes on grass. Can we add to any more stereotypes here?
And how does any of this explain Antonio Alfonseca, a Dominican who could give up a ninth-inning homer in Borneo or Stockholm?
According to a study by Dr. Robert S. Helman of New York Medical College, "heatstroke affects all races equally. However, because of differences in social advantages, the annual death rate because of environmental conditions is more than three times higher in blacks than in whites."
Another study by the Borden Institute, which researches medical issues in the military, states: "It has been suggested that as a group, blacks are less heat-tolerant than whites. This is certainly supported by U.S. Army medical reports."
I don't want to make any more out of this than what it is?a man talking out loud without checking his facts first. Baker isn't saying the solution to the Cubs' difficulties is more people of color and fewer people of pastiness. He's saying what a lot of people take on faith, that blacks are better suited for work in warm weather than whites are. He just happens to be wrong.
..Already making excuses.
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