Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

... but seriously - Oil Can Boyd needs professional help before it's too late.

I can't believe he actually said this!

[quote:9600ca13b3]If he had the opportunity to meet Jackie Robinson, former big-league pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd says he would say: "Why'd you do this?"

Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The move opened the door for African Americans to play in the majors.

"I don't really think that Negro league baseball shoulda been broken up," Boyd says during an interview that will air tonight on ESPN's E:60, according to The Boston Globe.

Buster Olney, who interviews Boyd, then asks, "How come?"

Boyd responds:

"Because it was -- it was individuality … I'm not real thankful to Jackie at all because I'm me - my style of baseball, the way I played it in the major league transpired from the Negro leagues. So that's why people found that I was a hot dog or I was flamboyant."[/quote:9600ca13b3]

Wow, talk about ungrateful. I wish Buck O'neill was alive to respond to that, I know he would know what to say.

Guessin it might be coming off differently than what hes driving at-

Which might be that he feels the negro leagues would've offered something different and that he wished he had been part of it instead of playing MLB.

Now, I could be totally wrong, but thats kind of what im reading there- perhaps not said tactfully.

I agree with Salt, but Mr Can really has a narrow view of the world. To put Jackie breaking the color barrier in terms of ME,ME,ME and I,I,I shows very little insight into the United States of 1947 and how that event helped the cause of civil rights that mushroomed in the 50s and 60s, but after all if your nickname is Oil can what can we expect.
BILL

The price paid by Jackie (and Hank, Willie, Roberto and all the first MLB players of color) was dramatically high, as was the price Curt Flood paid to help make the Major Leaguers of today multi-millionaires.

If it didn't happen in their adult lifetimes, many folks don't understand or appreciate it.

I too will hold off judgement until I see the interview.

Boyd was on during the pre-game ceremonies of the Fenway 100 day with Millar and Rose... he was thoroughly entertaining and seemed to have a great deal of appreciation for the history of the Sox and Fenway.

This is what he actually said- if you read the last part of this- it changes the context- so I think he is saying something entirely different from what was portrayed:

Boyd, who was known for his flamboyance and volatility during his big league career, also said he regrets the Negro Leagues were broken up because of the loss of individuality that thrived in the leagues.

"I'm not real thankful to Jackie (Robinson) at all because I'm me, my style of baseball, the way I played it in the major leagues transpired from the Negro Leagues," said Boyd, whose father played in the Negro Leagues. "So that's why people found that I was a hot dog or I was flamboyant.
"Now the kids don't even know the ballplayers anymore, it's so commercialized. And they wonder where the black ballplayer went. Well, black ballplayers went to jail. In the last 20 years, that's where they are."

Yeah, it seems to me he's saying something about what was lost when the Negro leagues folded. Something about how the game was played differently in the NeLs, and that some kids today might have been more drawn to that style of play. And the loss of the NeLs was definitely connected to Jackie going to the Dodgers. Controversial statement, perhaps. And it is related to the tension between racial integration and diversity. It seems to me that there are only certain types of "individuality" that are allowed in baseball today, and that there are other types that might have been allowed in a present day NeL.

Adding this extra to his quote does not help. So if Jackie and Willie played today they would be in jail?

Have to agree with the original poster.

[quote:448d80b0ef="Valen"]Adding this extra to his quote does not help. So if Jackie and Willie played today they would be in jail?

Have to agree with the original poster.[/quote:448d80b0ef]

:shock: :shock:

Sorry to be blunt about it; but think thats waaay off.

IMO;
Hes talking about MLB, commercialism, its effect on the game and its effect on black players or the lack thereof specifically- and the justice system in the US.
Generally speaking, it takes some intelligence to put that forth- Im not debating here weather he is right or not.