Gary Sheffield is a moron!!

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,

Shedfield or anyone for that matter can't talk about Latin players. Shedfield, at least, was born in the USA where there is a society that can give you the opportunity to excel yourself if you want to. Most of the Latin players come from countries that do not have the same opportunity and the only reason they are playing baseball is because their families did not have any other resources to send them to school or even to feed them. I personally saw some of these players back in the Dominican Republic and Shedfield should go and see the condifitions that these guys play in just to be a baseball player. Shedfield's comment was very arrogant (only about Shedfield -- what's new?). He has no right to speak for Latin Players. I wonder what Ordonez, and the so many latin players in the tigers have to say about his comment. The implication is so wrong that there is no excuse for his comment. Yes he is ignorant about everything there is to be a Latin player.

Did I say otherwise ?

Jimbo

 

[Sean Mota]

Did I say otherwise ?

Jimbo

nope just wanted to add more wood to the fire

 

[Jimbo]

nope just wanted to add more wood to the fire

NP,
I thought you might have thought I had been taking a different stance.

But, Man can he STILL hit the ball. once he found his stroke this year ...
He reminds me of Dave Parker with the Reds, always hit the ball hard.

Jimbo

 

[salsadancer7]

NP,
I thought you might have thought I had been taking a different stance.

But, Man can he STILL hit the ball. once he found his stroke this year ...
He reminds me of Dave Parker with the Reds, always hit the ball hard.

Jimbo

I LOVED Dave Parker....the Cobra was great, but a NOT so boisterous arrogance...more like VERY confident...but NEVER the ass**** that Bonds or Sheffield is/are....

 

[Ramy]

I LOVED Dave Parker....the Cobra was great, but a NOT so boisterous arrogance...more like VERY confident...but NEVER the ass**** that Bonds or Sheffield is/are....

I agree, Parker was great.

 

[Jimbo]

I LOVED Dave Parker....the Cobra was great, but a NOT so boisterous arrogance...more like VERY confident...but NEVER the ass**** that Bonds or Sheffield is/are....

I was only refering to the way they both POUND the ball.

Jimbo

 

[Max Fisher]

Never Fails

Doesn't a dumb athlete say something stupid at the rate of once per day now? I feel like every day there's some absurd, outlandish, racist, offensive quote. Keep your mouth shut, and play ball. Let your actions speak. No one wants to hear you.

 

[cybok0]

I LOVED Dave Parker....the Cobra was great, but a NOT so boisterous arrogance...more like VERY confident...but NEVER the ass**** that Bonds or Sheffield is/are....

In 1979 and 1980 Parker was hated in Pittsburgh, fans actually wanted a day to throw batteries at him on the field.

IMO the drugs slowed him down, which made fans made that the Pirates were paying him a million dollars and not performing.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Jimbo, I agree with all you have said. I've been waiting for some comment from the Tiger's rather sizable Latino player count, but they have remained silent so far. Maybe they see Sheffields comments for what they truely are, and they're taking the high road. At least I hope so.

 

[salsadancer7]

Doesn't a dumb athlete say something stupid at the rate of once per day now? I feel like every day there's some absurd, outlandish, racist, offensive quote. Keep your mouth shut, and play ball. Let your actions speak. No one wants to hear you.

I wonder if I am one of the few that actually WANTS the athlete to express themselves. See, I WANT to know where they stand because the ONLY suprises I like is for my birthday and that my beautiful wife wear's the thong color's I like....:up

 

[kenny911]

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Wondering how Gary Sheffield's Latin teammates would react to what Sheffield said in GQ? Well, how's this?

``I'm happy he said it,'' Carlos Guillen said today. ``It's the truth.''

Guillen said that baseball does have more control over Latin players than over American players, because they can threaten to send a Latin player home to an uncertain future. While many American players have some time in college or at least a high school diploma before they sign, many Latin players sign at age 16 without even finishing high school.

Pudge Rodriguez also said he had absolutely no problem with Sheffield, and walked across the clubhouse and put his arm around Sheffield just to prove it

 

[salsadancer7]

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Wondering how Gary Sheffield's Latin teammates would react to what Sheffield said in GQ? Well, how's this?

``I'm happy he said it,'' Carlos Guillen said today. ``It's the truth.''

Guillen said that baseball does have more control over Latin players than over American players, because they can threaten to send a Latin player home to an uncertain future. While many American players have some time in college or at least a high school diploma before they sign, many Latin players sign at age 16 without even finishing high school.

Pudge Rodriguez also said he had absolutely no problem with Sheffield, and walked across the clubhouse and put his arm around Sheffield just to prove it

The Pudge hug, was simply a PR move on HIS part because He has NO CHOICE but to keep team harmony because he is the team leader in that club house. In the context that Ozzie expressed it is true to a certain extent, latin ball player DO NOT have nowhere to go if they are not signed. Kids signed in latin america, as stated before, do NOT have to go through a draft and can be signed as early as 16 and in the Dominican, they have been signed at 15...so they get them at a point when they aren't fully developed to recognized if they are being taken advantage of....now I know that the parents have to sign off on their contracts, but MOST of latin american would be considered poor, and when they throw money like they do and hear the contract these men sign, they know that kind of money can help the family INSTANTLY. Sheffield MEANT it in the context that black player are being PASSED OVER due to their color and insinuated that latin players are easy to manhandle.

Look, I am part of the coaching staff of a high school team ranked in the top 15 in the state of Florida. Our high school is diverse, I would say almost equally divided in one third black, white and hispanic. And we play some schools that are mostly black, some schools that are mostly hispanic and when we do our national tournaments, we play alot of white schools. And that fact remains, black kids are not playing baseball as much as they use to 15-20 years ago. Hell, I will go back as recently as 10 years ago....They are more into football, basketball and track and field....Now, do they just don't like baseball anymore? I don't know, the black players on our team(we have 6 on the roster and all start...2 outfielders, a secondbaseman and 2 pitchers) SAY they love the game. And if I am not mistaken, there is even a program in the Majors that is supposed to re-invigorate baseball in the inner cities because they recognize that black youth have been getting less involved in baseball for the last 20 years.