This one is going to be a rant...
In his comedy sketches, George Carlin has a section devoted to "things that piss [him] off." Well, here's something that pisses me off:
First, let me set the stage.
Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut 60 years ago tomorrow, becoming the first African-American player to play in a Major League baseball game. He and other players from the Negro Leagues had been held out of the Majors for a long time, and Robinson was quite a pioneer. He was not only a Hall-of-Fame player (check out his stats; they're awesome), but he had to really go through a lot of shit as being the first African American player. It's not that subsequent ones didn't go through garbage, but it's
really hard to be the first and by essentially all accounts Robinson was the first not just because of his incredible physical ability and skills but also because he had the mentality to be able to be the first. Because of people like Robinson, we have gotten the privelege of watching wonderful players such as Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, and (steroids or otherwise) Barry Bonds. So it's really clear that immense tributes to pioneers such as Robinson are appropriate.
In 1997, Robinson's number (42), already retired by the Dodgers (he played for us) was retired by all of Major League Baseball, except with a grandfathering of others who were using the number at the time. This was, of course, a public relations move, but it was extremely classy and was just a nice touch. The original plan for tomorrow was for
select players (chosen specifically because they somehow are good representatives of Robinson; and let's assume for the sake of argument that some outside person selects the players and does a perfect job of doing so -- i.e., I don't want to argue about the details of who should be chosen, but let's assume that there is some relatively small number of players who should be chosen) to wear number 42 as a tribute to Robinson and for all of the Dodgers to wear the number because the Dodgers were Robinson's team and there was some pioneering on the team's part (or at least for individuals associated with the team) for being part of getting Robinson a spot in the Majors where he belonged.
Granted, this is gimmicky and is naturally part of the PR machine, but it's still a very nice tribute
if it done correctly. The problem is that what was supposed to be a tribute has turned into one of those rote things that people do on anniversaries that remove all tributary meaning. Basically, just about every African American player is going to wear Robinson's number and five teams (the last time I checked) will have everybody wearing the number. Maybe this is just my cynicism coming out, but this turns things from being a tribute to something on the order of wearing the number because it's hip to do so. Some baseball writers, such as Rob Neyer of ESPN.com, have expressed this perspective. The thing just pisses me off. Here's a guy who deserves a real tribute on the anniversary of his Major League debut and the giant PR machine is instead turning it into a fashion statement and removing the meaning in the process. It's fucking horseshit.
