Ramos/Craig: Surveying the field: when baseball lets you down
From Jen Mac Ramos and Mary Craig at The Hardball Times on August 23, 2018:
Major League Baseball has a fraught, and often disappointing, relationship with diversity and inclusion. Throughout the league’s history, it has had moments when it served as an important catalyst for progressive societal change, with integration acting as the most powerful and enduring example. But while these moments revealed baseball’s potential as a force for change, the game has also ignored and marginalized parts of its fanbase. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier 71 years ago; MLB’s approach to social progress since then could best be described as halting. Whether through neglect or outright hostility, and despite more recent efforts to proactively recognize include diverse communities, the league, its clubs, and players have often failed to make the ballpark equally inviting to all fans who wish to cheer on the home nine. In the past several weeks, we’ve seen that enmity take a new form–one that is very much a product of its time, yet is still rooted in age-old bigotries.
It started during the 2018 All-Star Game, when Josh Hader’s racist, homophobic, and sexist tweets from 2011 and 2012 were uncovered following a relief appearance in which he gave up a three-run home run that put the American League ahead.
Read the full article here: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/surveying-the-field-fans-react-when-baseball-lets-them-down/
Originally published: August 24, 2018. Last Updated: August 24, 2018.