Torii Hunter Being Controversial Again?

"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American," Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. "They're not us. They're impostors."

From Big League Stew

about 2 years ago less cowbell, more 'neau 4 comments 0 recs |

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Holy Cow!

I thought for sure that this was going to turn out to be a ‘joke’ column. But it isn’t. Torii Hunter actually used the word ‘imposters’ and appears to have been dead serious.

More from the article:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Fans look down from their seats onto the baseball field, see dark-colored skin and might assume they are African-American players.
But increasingly, the players instead hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.

“People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African American,” Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. "They’re not us. They’re impostors.

“As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us,” Hunter says. "It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’

“I’m telling you, it’s sad.”

And I’m telling you Torii, your comments are sad.

by montanatwinsfan on Mar 10, 2010 2:52 PM EST reply actions

Its

“Holy Sheep” to you!!!

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett

by BCTwins on Mar 10, 2010 4:41 PM EST up reply actions

As the BLS article pointed out

Now he has to go to AZ and play side by side with Rivera and Abreu, both of whom he basically just labeled as “imposters.”

He was trying to make a point about the lack of developing/scouting young African-Americans in MLB and took a wrong turn somewhere.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
"All morons hate it when you call them a moron." -Holden Caufield

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Mar 10, 2010 5:02 PM EST up reply actions

Despite his conspiracy theory, there is still an underlying issue

Race identification issues aside, there is still a legitimate complaint that MLB teams are more interested in developing talent abroad than gathering in talent from inner city USA.

As one of the articles referenced within the link points out, imagine if a fraction of college football backups (who have a minuscule shot at the NFL) chose to play baseball instead. There is little doubt that baseball would benefit from increasing the USA talent pool, especially as baseball is lacking ways to connect with younger generations of fans (see high ticket and baseball card prices).

by Span Man on Mar 10, 2010 4:04 PM EST reply actions