Let’s see if the New York Times will pick up this story…
Thirteen years ago was the beginning of the death for young Black boys attraction to baseball. It didn’t have to be that way because the most charasmatic athlete since MUHAMMAD ALI was about to put on a pair of cleats and attempt to hit a breaking ball. MICHAEL JORDAN had retired from the Association and he was contemplating bringing his rare air to the Major Leagues. Unlike the great two-sport athletes of our time like BO JACKSON and DEION SANDERS, JORDAN was in a universe all of his own. He was a national hero that had a global following.
Baseball’s attraction for African American youth had been waning since the late seventies. Ever since we found out that REGGIE JACKSON was actually a Mexican Puerto Rican. Latin players were now becoming the rising minority demographic in the MLB and the Black players inside the league had all of the charisma of a wet paper bag. Great players like RICKEY HENDERSON were confusing to Black kids because he often talked in the third person. Right inside of the city that JORDAN ruled with his Bulls teammates there was a popular young slugger who himself was on the verge of stardom. His name was FRANK THOMAS and we shall heretofore refer to him as player hater supreme.
Instead of welcoming JORDAN’s presence into the Chicago White Sox, THOMAS lashed out at him for his attempt at playing baseball. THOMAS argued that there was some kid somewhere that wasn’t getting the chance to play baseball on the highest level because of the roster exception that was given to JORDAN. Nevermind the fact that JORDAN wasn’t placed on the White Sox major league team, he was only offered a minor league contract and a chance to tryout. What THOMAS was really afraid of was that JORDAN would steal his little bit of Chi-Town shine. It wasn’t enough for JORDAN to own Chicago for six months out of the year, but now he was going to own it 24-7-365.
Because of FRANK THOMAS’ hate JORDAN was unmotivated to pursue baseball with the zeal that he normally displayed. He played a bunch of minor league games and he even hit a couple of minor league home runs, but JORDAN never got to shoot the shot on the MLB big stage. Too bad for us because that could have been the one thing to motivate Black kids to look at baseball in a real sense and not just something for which to buy an oversized jersey and hat.
