Lofton backs Sheffield's claim of different treatment of black and white Yankees

Let's not try to apply logic to Sheffield's ramblings. The guy sure seems to shut off his brain before speaking on occasion.

 

I'm rather amazed at the way so many still "analyze" and strain for a way to take Sheffield's comments seriously. And, btw, in the continuing game of "shit that would be treated differently if someone else said it", where do Sheff's comment about Jeter rank?

At what point does it finally dawn on the world that Sheff's just plain full of shit.

 

Well, Mmac, since Jeter -- being the robot he is -- had no reaction to Sheff's calling him half-black, I guess there's nothing to be concerned with.

Of course, if Captain Fantastic had any balls he have called out Sheff for the jackass he is, defended his beloved "Mr. Torre" and taken offense to being called only half-black.

 

OOP, Jose may be a scumbag, but let's make one thing clear:  he's the only "rat" who was right when it came to how common steroid use was.  He is the only one who was willing to be the "rat" by admitting he used it.  The only reason why everyone refers to him a scumbag because he spat in the face of the players' union, told MLB to go to hell, and crossed the line in airing out dirty laundry.  His skills were diminshing and he had nothing to lose and nothing to gain than to get paid. To him, it was a business decision for him.

DP can kiss my ass with his whining and pleading Jose not to publish that book (in which he did). 

Boom and everyone else has made it perfectly clear, to which I agree with:  Gary Sheffield never have and never will be happy where he is at, how much he makes, and who's he playing for.  He's a constant chronic complainer who whines and moans about everything, regardless how good he has it.  Fans booing?  They must be racist.  Managers handling players in different ways because of who they are?  He playing favorites.  Get a nice fat contract?  Not good enough because the owner is cheap. 

Sheff has been treated better than he thinks.  The problem is that he continues, for some unhealthy reason, to think that everyone is out to get him and run him out of baseball.  If he played, hypothetically, for a black owner and a black manager, there is no doubt that Sheff will bitch about them too.  He's too fucked up in the head to understand that.  I'm pissed off more with how he is "addressing" the black/white issue. Who is he defending? All black players or his self-interest? Past history suggests that he'll protect his own interest before he shows any interest in someone else's, regardless if it's race.

As far as Lofton is concerned, that little bastard should be counting his blessings that the Dodgers are giving him a paycheck.  He has burned enough bridges with teams that has given him a chance to flourish and be successful.  If he even dare to bitch about the Dodgers, he'll be playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones next spring. 

Simon, I didn't think that Bryant Gumbel changed the spelling of his name? 

 

Canseco also called out McGuire who refused to answer the question before Congress....

 

Wow, where do I start with the innaccuracies.

First of all, Canseco was a scumbag long before the book. It's still a complete shock to me that he never killed anybody the way he drove. I'm not talking a little speeding. I'm talking 100-plus in residential neighborhoods. And of course, the incident in a bar that finally landed him under house arrest wasn't his fault, right?

And Canseco wasn't the first rat to point fingers at himself while tellling how widespread steroid abuse was in the game. Ken Caminiti did it first. Except for naming names, many of them he just threw in there because he thought they looked like they were juicing, Canseco said nothing new at all.

And of course Canseco also lied for years about steroid abuse before finally admitting it after he was out of the game. And he did it to get his name back in the headlines, to make some money and to take a shot at the game because his ego won't allow him to believe his career should be over. Canseco whined for years that he was being blackballed. Never mind that he wanted a ton of money, couldn't stay healthy and had faded defensively to the point that he could only DH and pinch hit.

Oh, and Lofton plays for the Rangers now, not the Dodgers.

 

What did he say that turned out to be wrong? The rest of it is stuff we don't know yet. His book was the turning point on the whole issue, which is a good thing for everyone but the MLBPA. You can argue that it was accidental, and that he's still a lowlife - you're probably right, but his legacy is a positive one.

 

So, ignore the personal stuff. And when asked about Torre, just give a nice, bland, supportive answer. "All I know is Joe and I have worked well together for a long time....blah, blah, blah."

Silence reads like he agrees with Sheffield but doesn't want to say it. I'm assuming Sheffield is full of shit on this one when I write that. Maybe I'm wrong there. Does anybody actually believe Torre treats black players unfairly?

 

Re: Lofton backs Sheffield's claim of different treatment of black and white Yan

OOP, I stand corrected with Lofton's new address.  I forgot that he's with the Rangers, but then again, he is wearing red, white, and blue (same colors as the Dodgers).  And, we'll agree to disagree with Jose.  But let's stick to the topic at hand, which is Mr. Malcontent.  

Ragu, very good point with Jeet.  Critics think that Jeet is "neutered" or a company man since he doesn't respond with vigor or passion with controversial statements being made, whether it's from A-Rod or Sheff.  Sometimes it's better to keep quiet than to respond back right away.  Let the other guy hang himself with his words.  

Back to Torre:  Torre has been a manager long enough (Mets, Cards, Yankees) to understand on how to deal with players and have them on the same page.  Torre has to relay the message differently to star players, role players, hard to reach players, and players who need a kick in the pants.  Is it favoritism?  That is entirely to your interpretation.  The Yankees, sans the playoff runs, have been very successful with Torre at the helm and you hardly get any bad things said about him.  There have been disagreements, but there is a measure of respect.  Sheff could have easily lumped Steinbrenner in his Yankees' shit list, but he didn't.  That is interesting to me that Torre and Jeter get talked about, but not Mr. Steinbrenner.

 

Sounds to me like Torre may be guilty of treating jerks and a-holes differently by calling them out--probably for being total jerks and a-holes.

 

Re: Lofton backs Sheffield's claim of different treatment of black and white Yan

Gary Sheffield is a pain in the butt, but he is a pain in the butt who produces. Last year, I thought picking Abreu over Sheffield was a good decision, but Sheffield is showing that he isn't done. If your team takes Gary Sheffield, you take the bitter with the sweet.

I think a story Tim McCarver told can illustrate the point. McCarver grew up in Memphis when there was still segregation and he didn't shun his black teammates like Flood, Gibson, Brock. One day the subject of race came up in the 60s, and one of the black players told another black player to imitate McCarver. The black player shook hands with another black player, and immediately wiped his hand off. They told McCarver that the wipe off after a handshake was what they noticed he did. McCarver said he didn't realize what he was doing and, according to McCarver's writing, that was an enlightening moment.

My guess is it probably is something like that. I don't think Sheffield used the word "racist" - I think what he said was he treated black players differently. Maybe it wasn't something conscious on Torre's part.

I heard the guy on ESPN, Colin Cowherd, say everything with Sheffield is race. Well, you know, maybe in his everyday life Sheffield notices things. Maybe he's not always right, but he probably is sometimes. My wife is Mexican and there are times she wonders about things. Sheffield's comment about Jeter being "half-black" is accurate, and Sheffield said his own son is half-black and people don't know his son is black unless they see the name Sheffield and associate him with his father.