Race, Sports, and Hustle
posted by Dave Hoffman
Critical race analysis of sports law is a deep and rich scholarly topic. (See here for a nice example). It came to mind when a friend forwarded me this list, from the Major League Baseball website, which seeks to recognize the “Look Again Player of the Year“. As sponsor Joe Buck explains:
Behind every great team on the diamond, lurking in the shadow of baseball superstars, live the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort.
In other words, who are the overlooked hustle guys? The fan favorites. The gritty, wants-it-more, working-man’s players.
Notice anything interesting about the list?
Still missing it? Go here. Or here (which is a bit more accurate on the race issue).
October 27, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Posted in: Culture
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Responses (4)
Andrea - October 27, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Ahaha. When I saw this post, I immediately scrambled to find the Fire Joe Morgan link so I could share it with you. But you were already on top of it. Kudos, Concurring Opinions.
Patrick S. O'Donnell - October 27, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Critical race analysis of sports, although not sports law as such, was pioneered by Harry Edwards, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, Department of Sociology. He really was the trailblazer here and I thought to mention him lest he be forgotten by those much younger than me.
Scott Moss - October 29, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Yeah, a friend and I have always noticed this sort of bizarrely racialized view of which players are “gritty,” “a real gamer,” “gets the most out of his talent,” “a great guy to have in the clubhouse,” etc. — all white guys. Black players who are successful, in contrast, are assumed to be great “natural” talents. This holds true even when the white guy who’s a “gritty, hard worker” is well over 6″ and nothing but muscle.
Kaimi - October 30, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Nice, Dave.
The “hustle” list is a lot like the football equivalent, “leadership” or “intangibles” which are usually the excuse for the predominance of white quarterbacks.
So . . . who’s on your counter-list? Ichiro? Cameron? Torii (okay, bad timing on Torii, but still, he doesn’t take plays off)? Andruw? Too stratospheric? Hmm, need more role-player types.
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