Diversity In Baseball

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Baseball has been credited as America’s national pastime since the late 19th and early 20th century. With all the fun that comes with rooting for the home team, chowing down on a hot dog, and being part of the excitement as one of the star players hits a home run, it’s easy to overlook the oppression that occurred within the sport. In the article, Going to Bat for Jackie Robinson: The Jewish Role in Breaking Baseball’s Color Line, Stephen H. Norwood and Harold Brackman (1999) recount the alliance Jews and African Americans formed to fight for equality. This paper will explore what has been learned from the article, the role of Jews and the color line of baseball, cultural significance of racial diversity in baseball, and how baseball has…show more content…
According to segregationists, the role of the Jewish community in helping break the color line of baseball included being the brains and the money behind everything (Norwood & Brackman, 1999). While this isn’t a completely false statement, the Jews did so much more. Many Jewish organizations joined forces with major African American civil rights groups, Jewish sports writers and other Jews with access to mainstream media outlets covered issues regarding desegregation passionately, and Jews in political positions worked towards passing sanctions to promote equality in their sectors. Some of the more prominent Jews of the civil rights movement within baseball included Walter Winchell, Shirley Povich, Isadore Muchnick, and Hank Greenberg. Winchell and Povich were both active in the sports writing scene and, with other sports writers, constantly came to the support of African Americans who experienced discrimination at ballparks. Winchell was also a strong supporter of Jackie Robinson, stating that: “Ball players who don’t want to be in the same ball park with Robinson, don’t belong in the same country with him,” (Norwood & Brackman, 1999). Muchnick was a Boston City Councilor who made a motion to revoke Sunday baseball for the Red Sox and the Braves if they did not desegregate. Finally, Greenberg, arguably the most supportive individual of Jackie Robinson, was a…show more content…
In baseball’s early years, the leagues were made up of primarily, if not all, white male Christians because this was the dominant culture at that time (McGimpsey, 2000). As the sport progressed and grew in popularity, the demand for inclusion of all races, genders, and religious affiliations increased. The response to this demand was two-fold. Some saw the need for inclusion based on a moral imperative, that all individuals in sport should receive ethically fair treatment. Others saw racial inclusion as a form of business justification, solely because they believed diversity to be a strategic asset that would supply a competitive business advantage (Claussen, Ko, & Rinehart, 2008). Either way, both perspectives allow for more integration of other races, which in turn promotes cultural growth within sport. Furthermore, because of the lack of exclusion baseball continued to showcase more and more talent. Shirley Povich brought this issue to light back in 1941: “[In] the Washington Post, Povich wrote that many players in the Negro leagues were as good or better than current major league stars, and that by maintaining a color line, the major leagues were missing out on ‘a couple of million dollars worth of talent,’” (Norwood & Brackman,
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