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"Sheffield says Latin players easier to control than blacks ESPN.com news services Updated: June 3, 2007, 4:17 PM ET * Comment * Email * Print The percentage of African-Americans playing Major League Baseball is at an all-time low and Gary Sheffield says he has a theory why that's the case. Gary Sheffield Sheffield In an interview with GQ magazine that's currently on newsstands, the typically outspoken Tigers designated hitter said Latin players have replaced African-Americans as baseball's most prevalent minority because they are easier to control. "I called it years ago. What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out. … [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do -- being able to control them," he told the magazine. "Where I'm from, you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that's a person that you're going to talk to with respect, you're going to talk to like a man. "These are the things my race demands. So, if you're equally good as this Latin player, guess who's going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys." According to a 2005 report by the University of Central Florida Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, only 8.5 percent of major leaguers were African-American -- the lowest percentage since the report was initiated in the mid-1980s. By contrast, whites comprised 59.5 percent of the majors' player pool, Latinos 28.7 percent and Asians 2.5."

6/4/2007 4:37:23 PM

He must miss playing for the Yankees. Now he has to rely on saying stupid stuff to get attention. But then again, I'm sure Latin guys are a lot easier to control than Carl Everett and Barry Bonds.

6/4/2007 4:44:45 PM

Gary Sheffield is soooo 1990

6/4/2007 4:46:16 PM

*sigh*

6/4/2007 4:53:03 PM

so Black players are noncoachable and can't be taught to improve their skills?

6/4/2007 4:56:06 PM

i think hes saying they are noncoachable because they demand respect

so it sounds like he thinks latino players dont demand respect, thus they stay while blacks are sent home

either way hes just retarded

6/4/2007 4:58:51 PM

Dear Gary,

You are 100% correct. Fuck the Latino's! Stupid Bastards!

Regards,

Iván Rodríguez, Wilfredo Ledezma, Carlos Guillén, Plácido Polanco, Magglio Ordóñez, Omar Infante & Neifi Pérez

6/4/2007 4:59:32 PM

Imagine the shitstorm this would be if a white player said the exact same thing.

6/4/2007 4:59:54 PM

^true

6/4/2007 5:05:50 PM

thats what i was thinkin when i read this yesterday. the fact that i had stumbled upon the story instead of having it thrown in my face showed me there's a pretty big double standard goin on

[Edited on June 4, 2007 at 5:17 PM. Reason : .]

6/4/2007 5:17:09 PM

This kinda thing is just the opposite of the "racist old grandpa" who thinks it's ok to call people "colored" because thats how he grew up.

You have a whole generation of black athletes who grew up in a time when playing the race card was an accepted form of discussion, and they don't realize that shit went out of style in the 90's.

6/4/2007 5:21:57 PM

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"you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out."

Sounds like he's contributing to the problem?

6/5/2007 6:14:04 AM

I can't believe people are actually making an attempt to defend him.

6/5/2007 11:31:17 AM

i'm not defending him but i don't think what he's saying is 100% false

i think he's basically just saying that him and the fellow black people he associates with might have a little more pride than some people who are "fresh off the boat"

6/5/2007 11:46:27 AM

he talks about teams 'holding players down', but it seems to me that is the point of being on a team....not letting one ego or arrogant asshat take over. he seems like he thinks black players should be exempt from those values just because they're black.

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"Where I'm from, you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. "

I know I wouldn't want someone like that on my team......but bottom line, if you're good enough, you can find a team to put up with your bullshit.

6/5/2007 11:54:56 AM

i just think most american pro athletes...white...black...whatever...baseball...football...whatever...probably have bigger egos than some of the foreign born athletes

6/5/2007 11:58:01 AM

^but I've never heard someone whine about it like that....it's completely asinine imo. Not to mention it should be more of a testament to the foreign born players than a knock on them anyway.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 1:09 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 1:08:10 PM

yeah but its one thing to say "these are great, selfless guys"...he seemed to phrase it more like "these uncle toms will do anything"

6/5/2007 1:13:11 PM

that's his racially biased opinion, I bet there are many people in MLB who would say for the most part they are great selfless guys. I'm just saying, don't attach a stigma to a particular group of people that wouldn't be acceptable for any one else to bring up.

What would happen the first time a GM says "well, we were looking at picking up one of two guys. In the end we went with the latino over the black guy b/c we feel he'll be easier to control."

6/5/2007 1:17:36 PM

So essentially he just cracked on his own race? Saying that blacks are hard to coach. If this is the case, I would also send them home and take on a person who is more open.

6/5/2007 2:01:23 PM

When keepin' it real goes wrong

6/5/2007 2:04:06 PM

Joe Morgan was on the Dan Patrick Show earlier today...he said he agreed that there are more Latinos but not for Sheffield's reasons...he said that when blacks first started playing (Jackie Robinson era) they were hungry and wanted to make money to feed their families...NBA and NFL didnt pay as much...now blacks have other outlets whether the be NBA, NFL, non sports, etc...Latinos are still hungry...and he said that apparently you can get Latin players to sign for less money than blacks/whites, I'm assuming based on cost of living relative to their native country...and since Joe Morgan is the man and is pretty much always right, I figured I'd share

6/5/2007 3:38:20 PM

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"Imagine the shitstorm this would be if a white player said the exact same thing."

6/5/2007 4:29:38 PM

they probably did...about blacks...back in the 40s and 50s

6/5/2007 4:52:03 PM

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"they probably definitely did...about blacks...back in the 40s and 50s"

oh, and back then, there was no shit storm

6/5/2007 4:52:59 PM

yeah cause back then you didnt have to walk on eggshells every time you spoke

granted i think the whites saying that back then were more racist than sheffield...but you still didnt have to worry about your comments getting spread across the internet, etc

6/5/2007 4:54:10 PM

the reason there are more latinos than blacks playing in the majors is simply because less and less black kids want to play baseball. they want to play the 'cooler' sports like basketball and football.

if you have 20% less black kids playing baseball now than you did in the 90's, there is a good chance you are going to have 20% less black major leaguers. this isnt difficult.

6/5/2007 4:58:05 PM

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"oh, and back then, there was no shit storm"

back then segregation was still very present everywhere...of course there was no shit storm

not that it was right, but no one saw a problem with saying things like that back then

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 10:43 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 10:42:30 PM

Lets just cut the bullshit. Is anyone actually offended by what Sheffield said? Of course not. Likewise, people shouldn't get so goddamn offended by every racially-tinged comment made by sportscasters and radio personalities like Don Imus. Then guys like Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would disappear, and nobody would have any reason to bitch about double standards.

Hopefully the era of racial hypersensitivity is coming to an end soon.

6/6/2007 12:56:54 AM

^^uh, yeah, that was kinda the point....

[Edited on June 6, 2007 at 12:57 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2007 12:57:07 AM

tell him if he has a problem with the ratio to join the nba

6/6/2007 1:02:48 AM

The NBA encourages players to "express themselves" individually. There are some exceptions, but it's not really a team sport anymore.

Why do you think so many people keep slobbering Kobe's knob, despite the fact that he is one of the worst teammates in the league? If Kobe tried that prima-donna shit in MLB, he'd be given the Barry Bonds treatment.

[Edited on June 6, 2007 at 1:17 AM. Reason : 2]

6/6/2007 1:17:07 AM

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"Lets just cut the bullshit. Is anyone actually offended by what Sheffield said? Of course not."

Uh, the "easy to control" Latinos might be.

6/6/2007 3:57:12 AM

People continue to try to justify Don Imus' cowardly remarks by any means and its becoming sickening. This and almost all other cases being compared are bad but they are just racial or sexist comments. The imus comments were not only racist and sexist but they were directed at a specific group of women who were doing absolutly nothing to warrent these claims. If an equivalent comment had been made about the new york knicks, indiana pacers or denver nuggets after their brawl it would still be ugly but at least warrented. There is no room on the airways for that animal.

6/6/2007 4:20:21 AM

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"Is anyone actually offended by what Sheffield said? "

yeah, how many professional latin baseball players, or lating people in general, have you asked about the subject?

6/6/2007 7:27:48 AM

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"The imus comments were not only racist and sexist but they were directed at a specific group of women who were doing absolutly nothing to warrent these claims."

Um, aren't pretty much all racist/sexist remarks directed at a specific group of people who are doing absolutely nothing to warrant them?

6/6/2007 3:05:06 PM

Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland dispatched controllable Latin player Carlos Guillen today to inform Gary Sheffield that he is an idiot.

“Jim Leyland told me to tell you that you are perhaps the dumbest person in the world,” said Guillen. “So, being that I am a controllable person of Latin descent, his wish is my command. However, even if that was not the case, I would be telling you that you are a moron anyway, because you truly are and you need to know that.”

Sheffield says he isn’t sure how he will react to Guillen’s comments because he is an uncontrollable black man.

“Who knows,” said Sheffield. “All I know is that no one can control what I say. I just won’t let them. No one can stop me from putting my ignorance and lack of intelligence into spoken words. I am no one’s slave. And I am especially not a slave to logic.”

http://www.sportspickle.com

6/6/2007 3:13:28 PM

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""Lets just cut the bullshit. Is anyone actually offended by what Sheffield said? Of course not." <<Uh, the "easy to control" Latinos might be.>>"

hahhaha. true. Yeah the only difference is that the latinos don't whine like blacks do. They don't have frontmen like Jackson or Sharpden to keep beating that dead dog even though they represent more of the current "economic slavery" that us evil white men have thrust upon them than any other minority. No wait, they risk their lives to jump the border to work these jobs in the first place.... huh..... food for thought....

Sheff is an idiot. He just wants attention again now that he's not with the poppy Yanks. This is definitely a good way to get what you want : play the race card, Gary.... it never fails....

6/6/2007 3:19:48 PM

I think all but 2 of you missed what he was saying-so let me break it down for you. He WAS NOT being racist idiots, the man was just speaking the blatant truth. it's not taht African American baseball players are less skilled, less coachable, less friendly in the dugout, or dont like being around their non-Blk teammates, he's saying that as a whole, African American baseball players are less likely to take certain things in reference to contract negotiations, trades to teams w/out having any say so, or putting up with owners who dont value their input with the various ball clubs. Since most Latin players are not too familiar with various cultural traits American players typically have-speaking up for themselves, not allowing agents to run contract talks, maybe wanting to play in cities closer to their families...

When I heard Sheffield's comments-I thought he was RIGHT on the MARK with his statement, it wasnt said to demean hispanic or white players, he just said what alot of people(mainly white people) dont like to hear, that Blk baseball players are not as subservient, and willing to go with the flow as teh Hispanic players-the truth hurts sometimes-that's why they call it the TRUTH!

6/6/2007 9:08:32 PM

^ given sheffild's history, i.e. not being the sharpest tool in the shed, it's easy to see how people might have taken what he said in the wrong way, if that's actually what he meant

6/6/2007 11:29:59 PM

Uncle Dwight must've been drunk and told him to say that

6/6/2007 11:49:15 PM

For the record, if you play professional sports then your opinion about anything other than the current state of the sport shouldn't matter.

6/7/2007 12:46:50 AM

^

precisely, there is no reason for there to be news coverage of this

who cares what his OPINION is, he has a right to it, and he has a right to express it

6/7/2007 2:04:15 AM

but when you make mad millions of dollars in the public spotlight you are always "a representative of the team and league" and have to walk on eggshells and say boring shit

6/7/2007 2:05:56 AM

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"and since Joe Morgan is the man and is pretty much always right, I figured I'd share"

Were you being serious here?

I hate Joe Morgan, but love Jon Miller.

6/7/2007 9:34:37 PM

cnn is about to interview him AFTER THE COMMERCIAL(i think)...just spreading the word

6/19/2007 8:29:37 PM

yeah i like joe morgan

6/20/2007 8:41:53 PM