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Thearon W. Henderson
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I honestly doubt that most of the people at ESPN even watch baseball;
they basically are just casual baseball fans who have a TV network and talking
points. Colin Cowherd says a lot of controversial things, just like many other
talking heads at ESPN, but his statement on his Wednesday radio show that:
"Robinson Cano plays a lot harder in those [WBC] games than he does for
the Yankees," is just flat out stupid and has been called stupid by pretty
much everyone, but I also think that this issue speaks to a larger issue not
just with ESPN but with sports and how we watch athletes in general.
First off that Robinson Cano is top 5 players in the MLB,
plays 160 games a year and is without a doubt the best second baseman in
baseball. He's been an MVP candidate in each of the last 3 years and is the
best position player in the AL East. Despite all this you know what comes up
when you Google "lack of hustle" memorable quotes from Heavy weights,
but after that you get article after article about players lack of hustle and
many of them are about Robinson Cano and his perceived lack of hustle on the
base paths or in the field. Many fans have crucified Cano for this stating that
he has no heart and that the Yankees should let him walk because of this
perceived lack of intensity, apparently Colin Cowherd, who I doubt actually
watches baseball, listens to these people because why else would he think that
an MVP candidate played harder in the World Baseball Classic than he does for
the New York Yankees? Don't get me wrong Cano is less than perfect and to us as
fans a player needs to be perfect at all times in order to be acceptable and in
that quest we can ignore how great a player like Cano really is. Cano has
nearly 1500 hits, 177 Home runs and has hit .308 over his first 8 seasons in
the majors; Bill James gives him a 32% chance of getting 3,000 hits. He's had
over 40 doubles six times in eight seasons, just missing 50 twice and despite
what some think he is one of the best defenders in the game. How much better is
he supposed to do if he is apparently such a lazy bastard according to Mr.
Cowherd? Cano has done everything that is expected and wanting more from a
player isn't wrong, but the casual racism of Colin Cowherd and many others in
this manner is wrong.
Before I get into the issue of Casual Racism in baseball let
me making a short statement. This is not simply an issue relating to just
baseball it’s in all sports and it’s in all sports because it’s in our society
as a whole. Also I am a White male living in Connecticut and so I have never
experienced racism directed toward myself, but we all know "that guy"
(and for all I know you could be that guy) who has said some less than nice
things about another person based on their race and we have all probably made an
unfair judgment about someone based on it as well. This does not make any of
those statements any less wrong and when media figures do it they should be
called out for it, which is what I am doing here. There is a problem in
baseball that many people have called out in which Hispanic and Black players
are often called lazy or lacking hustle and it’s not cherry picking answers, I
mean watch a game of baseball or just talking heads talk about baseball they
always find time to call out some kid who didn't hustle on ground ball and
chances are that that player is Black or Latino. I wasn't joking when I said
that I googled lack of hustle, here are some of the black and Latino players
who came up when I did this:
Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, ROBINSON CANO, Edwin
Encarnacion, Starlin Castro, Alex Rios, Domonic Brown, Justin Upton, BJ Upton,
Alfonso Soriano.
How about White players: David Wright (article from 2009)
and Lucas Duda. That's its nobody else, I seriously doubt that all white
players are 100% focused all the time during a 162 game season and while we as
fans may hope for that not to be the case it is. There were also several
articles about the racism of this situation, but we still do it I mean Kevin
Towers has gutted a team that won 94 games two years ago because his players
were not GRITTY enough, so he traded Chris Young and Justin Upton and replaced
them with Cody Ross and Adam Eaton because they are gritty and have fire. I am
going to say that Kevin Towers is a complete moron if he believes that Cody
Ross is better than Justin Upton. Trading Justin Upton because he isn’t
“intense” or “fierce” like Cody Ross, or that he isn’t a leader, or that he
makes the game look too easy, is another way of saying he’s black. And that in
lies the problem, Gritty players are what everyone loves and you know what
players described as gritty are, white. Does this mean that the Arizona
Diamondbacks’ front office and everyone who thinks like them are racist? No.
But our social constructs influence the way we evaluate players and that's why
people like Colin Cowherd buy into the idea that Robinson Cano is lazy and
doesn't try because he isn't diving head first into first base at every ground
ball. Does Robinson Cano make every play that he should, no and you know what
nobody does including great players like Ichiro Suzuki or Joey Votto and most
of the time it’s not because of a lack of effort. John Harper, of New York
Daily News, said it best last September after Cano was blasted for not getting
a ball in a game against Tampa "Cano’s history of nonchalance, most of
which he has overcome, still gets him unfairly labeled as lazy. The real issue
is that he’s the best defensive second baseman in the majors, and as a result,
he thinks he can make any play at any time....He made a costly mistake on
Monday (referring to the in game mistake) — a mistake in judgment, not
effort." Unfortunately this isn't an issue that will go away any time soon
and undoubtedly someone will blast Cano, or any other Black or Hispanic player,
the second he doesn't make a play that somebody think he should have.
P.S: I just want to point out that players who play really hardnosed
ball "gritty baseball" hurt themselves all the time and as much as it’s
fun to see Brett Gardner dive head first into first base or lunge at a ball it’s
not fun when they hurt themselves and most of the time the injury is not worth
the results.
