shef strength to speak out

Shef: The Strength to Speak Out

Some say that for top athletes, the bottom line is the pay check. The

million dollar athlete is more concerned with his mansion, fleet of

cars, jewelry and all the other accoutrements of the jet setting life

style that fame and fortune can bring.

Love of the game and an enlightened perspective on the world they live

in are lost.

One athlete that deserves applause and respect for having the courage

and integrity to place his own need for justice and fairness above the

dollar signs is Gary Sheffield.

Shef has long taken heat for being outspoken. For telling it like it

is. For having the compunction to put realness ahead of a pay check.

His allegiance to self truth has cost him dearly. Management at many

of his employers have had it out for him. Fans only get the "media's"

reformed opinion of what he says. The context of his statements is

reduced to sound bites. He is portrayed as angry and disagreeable.

The angry Negro. Unappreciative of all he has been "given".

Well, we are here to tell you. Shef is painted as such in an effort to

marginalize the truths that he habitually unveils. Shef is portrayed

as the bitter, angry Negro by MLB and the media in an effort to get

the public to turn their collective backs on him and not listen to

what he has to say.

Angry and disagreeable? Unappreciative of what he has been "given"?

How about serious and contemplative. And so grateful for his blessings

his hard work has led to that he feels the need to try to bring truth

to baseball to make things better for the next generation. How about

that?

Now, in an effort to bring to light the inner demons of the Yankee

clubhouse and possibly lead to healing for the individuals that have

been disrespected and abused over the years, Shef has said things that

people simple don't want to hear. It isn't even about believing what

he says. No one is questioning the veracity of his perspective.

Essentially, the response is "oh, it's that angry Sheffield, tell him

to quite down."

Thankfully, Sheffield has reached a status in the game that he can't

be silenced. The truth can't be muted by disingenuous attempts to

deflect his unquestionably accurate perspective of his take on events.

"Black players had an issue with Joe Torre," Sheffield said in the

interview with HBO. "They weren't treated like everybody else. Even I

got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought was unfair."

This is inarguable. Every word is completely true.

Sheffield is a Negro player. If he and another Negro player had a

problem with Torre, then it is completely reasonable for Shef to say

that Negro players had an issue with Torre. If Shef felt that Torre

treated him unfairly, then Torre did.

This isn't about Joe Torre. This isn't about racism. Shef even said he

didn't think Torre was racist. So those in the media trying to

continue this abhorrent depiction of Shef as the angry Negro casually

calling everyone a racist are simply wrong.

This is about the need for baseball to exam the way it treats Negro

players. It is about the need for baseball to understand that it is

not the intention of the action, but the perception of the action that

matters. Did Torre willfully intend to slight Shef? Did he intend to

treat Shef differently? Did he even actually treat Shef differently?

Probably not. But that doesn't matter.

Shef felt as a Negro he was treated differently. That is indisputable.

You can't argue how Shef felt. You can't say, "no, Shef, you don't

feel as if Torre treats Negroes differently." And that is all that

matters.

"When you're hearing from your manager that they should have gotten

Vladimir Guerrero, that's disrespectful, but nobody ever came to my

defense and said it was."

Imagine. You show up to a new employer, and all your supervisor does

is talk about the guy he'd rather have in your place. That is the type

of thing that could cause a sensitive man like Sheffield to get down

on himself and question his self worth. That is the type of thing that

can break a man. And, when the rest of the organization does nothing

to defend the new employee/player, it leave that individual feeling

like he is alone in this new world. And, throw in the final factor:

The manager and the organization are white. The individual being

disrespected and shown no support is Negro. What conclusion can one

come to other than Negroes are treated differently? There is no other

logical conclusion.

"I had a lot of one-on-ones with Joe," he continued. "I don't just

jump to a conclusion on every issue. When he called me out in

meetings, I tried to take a positive out of it. I talked it over with

my wife and she said maybe he was doing it to make me an example for

everyone else. I told her she might be right.

"But when it hit the papers, that he called me out in meetings, then

it's a different ballgame and that's what happened."

And that is when it became clear to Shef that this wasn't simply about

trying to improve the team. It was about disrespecting Sheffield and

treating him, as a Negro, differently.

Sheffield has taken a lot of heat over the years for his willingness

to quickly leave a team and move on to the next high paying situation.

Has anyone every considered that it isn't about the money. That it is

completely about respect and Sheffield's continuous search for a

situation in which he won't perceive that he is being treated

differently because he is a Negro? That, his short stays and

constantly changing teams is a quest for acceptance and a continued

fight for the acceptance of Negro players in MLB?

We are so quick to laugh and belittle players when they hold out or

complain about contracts. Especially when they say "this isn't about

money, this is about respect".

Until you have been a Negro, belittled by Joe Torre in front of the

mostly white Yankees, you will never understand how true it is.