Aaron, who is black ...

[Steak Snabler]

From an AP story on Jason Heyward:

Aaron, who is black, told The Associated Press after Heyward's debut that he could bring excitement back to baseball. "Not only for Atlanta, but also for African-American players," Aaron said. "We do need to have many, many more Jason Heywards."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jFrnprozA7DmwJvKsK6EAHhSHzJgD9GTGOAG0

Is there anyone in America who doesn't know that Hank Aaron is black? And if AP style insists on the clarification, can't you think of a less-clunky way to include that information?

Something like: "Heyward's breakthrough reminds Aaron of the 1950s, when he and other young black stars began to dominate the game."

But in this case, the writer was just lazy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[User 4332]

Yes, there are undoubtedly people who don't realize he is black. And there is nothing wrong or lazy with that AP story's sentence construction.

 

[Crash]

Your version is most certainly better.

But Aaron is hoping for something that isn't going to happen. Baseball is too much like soccer in America: whereas it's a poor man's game in every other country, it's a rich man's game here. Unless you've got the thousands of dollars a summer to spend on travel ball, one-on-one instruction and elite camps (which is where all the college scouts are anyway), you've got little chance of making it.

If Ken Griffey Jr. couldn't start a resurgence of black talent in Major League Baseball, Jason Heyward isn't going to do it either. And I say that as an unabashed Braves fanboi.

 

[LongTimeListener]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066682/2/index.htm

On a recent episode of Jeopardy, the quiz show on which contestants must supply the questions to answers, the category was Jews in Sports, and the answer was "This pitcher was the youngest player ever voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame." The contestant's response was, "Who was Hank Aaron?"

Wrong. As host Alex Trebek pointed out, "I'm sorry, but Hank Aaron was not a pitcher."

 

[Mystery Meat II]

So THAT'S what Jeopardy is about! Now the Weird Al song makes sense!

 

[Azrael]

Given the story's premise, and how late this sentence appears in it, it seems a perfectly reasonable identifier.

 

[poindexter]

So if we need many, many more Jason Heywards, which players do we need much less of?

 

[LongTimeListener]

David Eckstein.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Yes, there are undoubtedly people who don't realize he is black. And there is nothing wrong or lazy with that AP story's sentence construction.

Oh boy, disagree. Snabler was spot-on.

 

[Drip]

Yes, there are undoubtedly people who don't realize he is black. And there is nothing wrong or lazy with that AP story's sentence construction.

Oh boy, disagree. Snabler was spot-on.

You're taught not to assume that EVERYONE knows what you are writing about. I don't have a problem with it, per se.

 

[Starman]

I would have used a little more indirect qualifier: "Aaron, one of the first black superstars in the National League ..."

 

[Professor Snape]

reminds me of that legendary AP cutline ... the Pope who got shot was photographed years later forgiving the man who shot him, and the AP shot showed the Pope standing there with this broken man cowering on his knees next to him ... "Pope John Paul II, left, meets Ali Mehtma Agca...."

left?

some things we just don't need to say

including Henry Aaron is Black

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

Could have gone with a variation on "last Negro leaguer in the majors," maybe?

YHS, etc

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Wow, if that's true, it's an interesting fact I never knew. He was the last person to make it to the majors from the Negro Leagues?

 

[21]

Some time ago, we had a big debate over the merits and perils of 'clean AP copy,' as opposed to more creative stylized writing.

This is the perfect example of how 'clean' copy can fail. Is it accurate? Yes. Is it grammatical? Yes. Does it spare the writer from having to actually, you know, WRITE, instead of merely typing? Yes.

But in all fairness to the writer in this case, it does sound like something an overeager editor might add, perhaps someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in sports.

 

[Starman]

Wow, if that's true, it's an interesting fact I never knew. He was the last person to make it to the majors from the Negro Leagues?

I'm not sure if he was the last one to MAKE the majors -- some Negro League teams continued to function up until 1960 -- but he was the last Negro Leaguer still active when he retired in 1976. It was one of the little trivia mini-factoids they used to throw into broadcasts.

 

[heyabbott]

Wow, if that's true, it's an interesting fact I never knew. He was the last person to make it to the majors from the Negro Leagues?

I'm not sure if he was the last one to MAKE the majors -- some Negro League teams continued to function up until 1960 -- but he was the last Negro Leaguer still active when he retired in 1976. It was one of the little trivia mini-factoids they used to throw into broadcasts.

Minnie Miñoso was the last Negro league player to play in a Major League game when he appeared in two games for the Chicago White Sox in 1980.

 

[Stoney]

If Ken Griffey Jr. couldn't start a resurgence of black talent in Major League Baseball.

Start? There was still a ton of African American talent when Griffey entered the league in 1989, but the percentage has been steadily declining ever since. If anything, Griffey symbolizes the END of the MLB African American era, not the hope for a resurgence.

As for the thread topic, seems like an overreaction to me. Yes, everybody should know Aaron is black, but nothing wrong with the writer including those three words to clarify the significance for the few dimwit readers.

 

[KJIM]

When I worked at AP in Detroit, we had to enter the same phrase into stories about Rosa Parks.

Remember, AP writes to the lowest common demoninator. There are some idiots out there.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Count me in the "much ado about nothing" camp. Nothing at all wrong with clarity. The copy should indicate why a quoted person's words are being used to make a point. Could it have been done more gently? Sure.

I'm more troubled by the phrase "that he could bring excitement back to baseball," which is in equal need of a qualifer. As if the only excitement in baseball is created by black players. Would've gone over better as that he could bring excitement back to baseball for the black community.