Posnanski: Hall of Fame’s Pre-Integration Committee announcement creates more questions than answers
From SABR member Joe Posnanski at NBC Sports on October 7, 2015:
Monday, the Hall of Fame announced that something called the Pre-Integration Committee will meet at this year’s Winter Meetings to discuss and vote on 10 “pre-integration”candidates for the Hall of Fame. These would be people who, you know, played or managed or owned or executed baseball stuff before the game was integrated.
Um, I have some questions.
Question 1: The Pre-Integration Era?
Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems — SEEMS — like the Hall of Fame is going out of its way to once again celebrate that time when baseball refused to let African-Americans and dark-skinned players play. Maybe it seems that way because I look at the above press release and it has “PRE-INTEGRATION” on top of the page in all capital letters and repeats the phrase “pre-integration” 21 times in total on the page.
Pre-integration. Hmm. What’s that? Do they mean before 1947, when Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers and the sport began to right the shameful wrong? Huh. Maybe they mean before 1950 when the Boston Braves became just the fifth team to have a black player. Maybe they mean before 1955 when baseball’s most prominent team, the New York Yankees, finally had a black player. Maybe they mean before 1959, when that beloved Hall of Famer Tom Yawkey finally allowed a black player to wear his team’s uniform.
Pre-Integration. Hmm. Such an interesting label.
Read the full article here: http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/the-pre-integration-committee/
Originally published: October 7, 2015. Last Updated: October 7, 2015.