Mace wrote: You know, when I was a kid listening to the Cubs on the radio, it never occurred to me that I wanted Ernie Banks to come to the plate with the Cubs trailing in the bottom of the ninth simply because he was black......nor did I ever wish it was Santo coming to the plate simply because he was white.
second point) Santo sounds Latino.
first point) how comfortably white of you not to be affected by race in baseball.
let me do a google-wiki search, to find out when Mr. Banks played.
Debut 17 Sept. 1953 (CHC)
Final Game 26 Sept. 1971 (CHC)
Well. That's the Civil Rights Era. Death Threats. Lynchings. Segregation.... and race never came up for you.
Black and white teammates couldn't eat or sleep in the same hotels and the same restaurants, or sit in the same train compartments... and race never came up for you.
Must have been nice, to be white, and not have to worry about anything.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and I can tell you, if somebody black came up in a field that was mostly held down by other people, you're damn straight blacks were rooting for that black to succeed. He or She represented ALL of us.
Remember that set of scenes at the boxing match in 'Harlem Nights'? if you watched that, I mean. That shit was REAL. And it was particularly real in the time period your Ernie Banks played.
So, I can say with 90% certainty, if you were black and a Cubs fan, you're damn straight you were rooting for Banks not just as a player, but as a Black Man.
Why can't whites root for a Black Man to succeed as a Black Man, in
that era, when it's positive rooting?
