Gordon Wittenmyer – Chicago Sun-Times: The Ricketts family can’t stop putting themselves into hot water. The solution for the Chicago Cubs’ owners is simple, stop being racist. Time and again they are simply unable to stop letting their racist colors fly. Whether it’s father Joe’s litany of racist emails or son Pete’s “you people” comments, racists are gonna racist and the Ricketts’ are racists.
Steven Goldman – Baseball Prospectus ($): It’s not surprising that a racist family like the Ricketts’ have become Major League Baseball owners. That is an organization with a history that is deeply rooted in racism. For years players were denied entry into MLB’s ranks simply because they weren’t white or sometimes because they weren’t the right shade of non-white. The list of players is long, but the theme is consistent, MLB has a long and troubling history with being racist.
Jim Allen – jballallen.com: Non-white players often have harder roads to travel when it comes to baseball. Within their own countries (America or otherwise) and abroad they are faced with situations and circumstances that their white teammates never once encounter. Nippon Professional Baseball may not be MLB and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks may not be the Chicago Cubs, but the way they treat Cuban born ballplayers is just as suspect as the racism of the Cubs and MLB. Maybe Cuban players are taking the best deal possible, or maybe SoftBank is preying on the Cuban youngsters they sign to developmental deals?
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Getty Images
