April 17, 2008

YES JACKIE WAS CRUCIAL BUT TWO OTHERS SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED AS WELL

I don’t need to expound on the importance of Jackie Robinson to the game of baseball.  Anybody who has any knowledge of the history of the game knows about Jackie and what he represented.  As such this week baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day.  There they were–ballplayers on every team showing respect for the legend by wearing his number.  While I certainly believe it is necessary for his mission to be remembered I also believe there are others who had an effect on the game who are not being recognized.

I find it absolutely appalling that neither Marvin Miller or Curt Flood have been included in the hall of fame.  It is my contention that there is more to the game of baseball than what takes place on the field and what Flood and Miller did to progress the game needs to be recognized.

Yes Jackie was instrumental in breaking the colour barrier but there was another severe flaw of humanitarianism being profligated by the owners of baseball–and that was the dreaded reserve clause.  Baseball owners were slave owners–segregating by colour and controlling the players through the reserve clause for as long as they wished.  When a player signed with a club that player gave away any rights–he was owned for his entire career by that ballclub unless the club decided to part ways.  There are hundreds of ballplayers who weren’t good enough to make the parent club ( especially if it was an annual contender), but were good enough to make another club.  However, the owners would keep that player in the minors for his entire career rather than have him help another club. 

The reserve clause was slavery.  Baseball owners were supported by the government.  Court decisions favoured the owners because judges maintained that baseball was sport not business.  The players had no standing.  They were forced into third class citizenry.

Curt Flood said no.  Even though he knew that challenging the reserve clause would mean the end of his playing career Flood refused to accept a trade from St. Louis to Philadelphia and declared himself a free agent.  Flood was a hall of fame quality ballplayer but it is his principals that need to be rewarded for if it were not for Flood, and those that followed him, the reserve clause would have as much teeth today as it did then. 

Marvin Miller was the head of the player’s association at the time–the Flood case was one of the few losses he would ever be dealt.  Miller had to fight against not only powerful and controlling owners but he had to convince frightened ballplayers to stand up for themselves.  Miller was a major component, along with Flood, in procuring basic human rights for baseball players.  Why are these two not recognized by the baseball community for their efforts and for their contributions to the game?

It aggrevates me to no end when I hear bubbleheads like Joe Morgan mouth off about the veteran’s committee.  When asked why the veteran’s committee continued its streak of not voting anyone into the hall Morgan astutely stated that they need to be selective of who was allowed in.  Not everybody was deserving. 

How monstrously stupid is it to make such an exclusionary statement by one of the supposed voices of the game today.  Here is a man who can thank Miller and Flood for his million dollar house, his big screen television and his comfortable lazy boy chair.  How dare he be so condescending?  How dare he criticize young players for not being aware of the history of the game when he is as guilty–if not more–for doing exactly the same?

Stupid is as stupid does.

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