He may be "colorful" and "eccentric" ...

[jfreeman]

Seems to me that plenty of "individuality" exists in the current game - think of the pitcher with the slightly twisted cap or kooky delivery to throw off hitters timing, or the batter's box rituals, the players that cross themselves or point to the heaven's every time they get a hit, the stare-downs (or not) between pitcher and hitter after a HR, the player that rips off his long sleeves and creates a new uniform look, the Ricky Henderson swat-catch, the fiesty manager (ala Billy Martin) versus the avuncular type (e.g., Madden), etc. Could you imagine if professional baseball players became more extreme and emulated the NFL? After a single, the player stops at first, flexes his muscles for the camera, staring at the pitcher while he poses (perhaps kissing his own arms) Or, perhaps, after every strike out, instead of "round-the-horn," the infield does a little dance together?

Not sure what Oil Can meant by lack of individuality?

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

The only way this discussion could be more absurd would be if Oil Can had referred to Jackie as "That N*****"

[dharmabums]

Allowable individuality in baseball has degenerated into the Phillie Phanatic; it is not much different from Disney. There are certain types of flamboyance that are allowed (Brian Wilson gets TV commercials) and other types of flamboyance that get discouraged (A couple of weeks ago I heard a Tigers TV broadcaster apologizing for Jose Valverde's behavior after a save -- and it wasn't because of all the walks he gave up!). And we definitely don't want no URBAN in "our" ball game. Nope. If you want to play in "our" game, then you need to show proper "respect" for the game. That means behaving according to the majority white suburban cultural standards, with just a touch of salsa. Not too much salsa though -- be sure to speak English!

It seems to me that Boyd is pointing out, awkwardly for sure, that there is a large section of youth today who don't feel a connection with MLB. And he's also saying that if there was still a NeL around, then maybe those youth would feel a connection to baseball, and not end up doing things that get them into prison. Definitely a lot of other factors involved, but there is a legitimate argument present in his comments.

[supertyphoon]

I think his comments were insensitive and disrespectful to the hundreds of great ballplayers who faced constant scorn and humiliation in the Negro Leagues before Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey broke down the color barrier in MLB. Colorful flamboyance was probably part of what they needed to do to attract a depression-era audience (both black and white) and pay their salaries. But I'm sure the NeL stars of that day would gladly trade all the "individuality" that Boyd feels is lacking in today's game for a fair shot at playing in the major leagues.

To me, it's a slap in the face to say that he's "not thankful to Jackie at all" for what he had to endure as a true pioneer in the fight against racism in this country. These unfortunate comments by Boyd paint him, right or wrong, as a selfish, ignorant person who has no appreciation for the courage and determination it took for Robinson to prove to the world that blacks were every bit as good as whites, deserved to play in the big leagues, and not be relegated to the Negro Leagues. He should thank his lucky stars every day that men like Jackie paved the way for himself and others to play MLB, and get paid handsomely for doing so.

[Salty]

Nex;
I dont think its fair to project our expectation of thankfulness on someone else.
This in no way means one needs to agree with his point, but you gotta understand it before you condemn it.

[nevdully's]

Thanks dahrma and Salt for saying what I can't.

[scorehouse]

you left out where he started by saying that "negro league baseball should never have been broken up". totally ruined the inner city. complete collapse of community that went bankrupt and lost thousands of inner city jobs and pride. i think the heirs of those negro teams should sue MLB for billions for what they did. they used robinson and doby to bankrupt the teams without a dime of compensation. boyd doesn't blame robinson per se, he believes, as i, that robinson was the poster boy for this noble cause when he was actually used to destroy the negro leagues. what a gold mine of new talent at the expense of the inner city negro teams and their whole support system. if this were true integration and not MLB imperialism, a few negro franchises should have survived with white players. like the AFL not folding to the NFL. the AFL had far more negro players than the NFL.

[Salty]

Score-
I actually think this shouldve been the starting point of discussion.

[scorehouse]

thanks.

[Badjam]

Tough act to follow but in a nut shell I think he is trying to say: Instead of Oil Can being allowed to enjoy the game being his own quirky self, he is treated as an outcast because he dares to go against the grain in the big leagues. Blaming Jackie is his way of showing his disappointment over MLB just rolling over "the game" of baseball in the same way as large corporations just steam rolling the old mom and pop shops.