Modern sports talk callers echo Alvin Dark, more subtly
Here is my Sunday newspaper column, in which I veer off in an unconventional direction from the controversial interview with Willie Randolph last week in The Record.
Venerable copy editor Greg Gutes sparked the idea, saying the incident reminded him of Stan Isaacs' chat with Alvin Dark that led to a Newsday column on July 23, 1964, in which Dark was quoted questioning the mental abilities and heart of his black and Latino players.
Before you dismiss Dark as a Neanderthal from a bygone era, compare this line to what you hear from some callers to sports talk radio in 2008 regarding the Mets' Hispanic-heavy lineup:
"You can't make most Negro and Spanish players have the pride in their team that you can get from white players."
(I will try again to reach Mr. Dark in the coming week to see if he has anything to say about any of this, 44 years later.)
Amazingly, it took Isaacs' Dark column nearly two weeks to become a national story in those pre-Internet days. But for its era, Ian O'Connor's Monday morning column on Randolph was shockingly slow to explode.
WFAN first mentioned it very late Monday afternoon, Newsday quoted it extensively Tuesday and it wasn't until Wednesday that the other New York papers got around to it.
Speaking of how times change, Isaacs spoke to Dark in San Francisco en route to covering a U.S. vs. USSR track meet in L.A. We used to send people cross-continent to cover track!?! Um, we don't do that anymore.
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Comments (8)
Didn't Alvin Dark in his book "When in doubt, fire the manager" say he was severely misquoted and when he threatened to sue for libel was warned "if you sue, we publish the fact you are cheating on you wife with an airline stewardess"? He later divorced his wife to marry the stewardess and they both became very religious.
There was a widespread disagreement on Dark's character by other people. Jackie Robinson publicly defended him saying he never found him to be a racist. Sports writer Leonard Koppett (who was Jewish) said that Dark grew up in a culture in Louisiana where it was drilled into your head there were differences between races and religions and Dark sometimes reflected that. But on the whole, Koppett felt Dark treated him fairly. Koppett felt Dark sometimes was "too smart for his own good". Would sometimes talk too much and have to explain himself. Got fired from the A's because he didn't have control, got a job in Cleveland as both GM-MManager and found he couldn't motivate players while trying to pay them as little as possible in the off season. Pete Franklin, Cleveland and failed WFAN broadcaster thought Dark was an out and out kook and bigot.
Dark also had some unique problems. His team was the first to have a large number of Latin players and he required everyone to speak English. He may have thought he was promoting clubhouse unity and acclimating players to America but they resented it. The best player was Willie Mays yet Mays was not the most popular with San Francisco fans (came from New York with a lot of hype, the first stadium Seals Stadium was small and Mays could show his great range. San Franciscans had seen a high quality of triple A teams for decades and resented being told Mays was great). The most popular player was Orlando Cepeda so Dark had the task of trying to build up Mays (who was sensitive) without dimishing Cepeda.
There was also another unique problem. The Giants had two Hall of Fame first baseman in Cepeda and McCovey. Dark tried to play Cepeda at third (commonly done in the 60s with Harmon Killebrew, Tony Perez and Frank Thomas). Cepeda didn't like it. He wasn't crazy about playing the outfield so McCovey would play it. McCovey was a quiet, hard working player but a slower runner than Cepeda.
If you can contact Dark, it would be interesting. But he may be sick talking about this for 40 years. It is part of his legacy but he gets ignored for his accomplishments. The trade the Giants made to get Dark and Eddie Stanky was one of the most lopsided in history. Did you ever notice how people talk about "Willie, Mickey and the Duke" at center but at short it's "Pee Wee and the Scooter". Dark doesn't get mentioned and maybe he's not a Hall of Famer. But the whole of his life should be considered.
Thanks, Jim. Great stuff. I appreciate the insight. Reading the original Stan columns from our microfilm was amazing. If I weren't so lazy I'd retype the whole thing for people to read. Maybe I will Monday.
"Take a hike, son ... take a hike"
Alvin Dark via Jim Bouton.
To comment on something Neil mentions briefly in closing, it is interesting how far track and field has fallen in this country. There is a story about Ronald Reagan ad-libbing about crowd silence at a track and field event while broadcasting at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa in the 1930s. To me the main thing is he is doing a track and field event. Has WFAN ever broadcast one? Would they even discuss one (maybe Olympics?). How many hours does ESPN broadcast a year?
How many can the average sports fan name?
Track and Field and the Olympics have lost a lot of luster. I remember avidly watching any Olympics until around 1992, then I realized I don't care about any of these sports and don't know who plays them, so why waste my time watching?
The Millrose Games used to attract a great deal of media attention, but I hardly read anything about it in recent years. They built a tremendous track and field complex on Randall's Island before I moved away, do they even use it?
Oh Mike and Mad Dog suddenly become experts on every, single Olympic sport when the games start, but just as with hockey, nothing anytime else. I think steroids have had a lot to do with the lost luster, especially Marion Jones' scandal.
The ills of track and field decscribed by Jim Clark and Sandy are nothing that can't be cured by the Indian Casinos with off-track pari-mutuel wagering.
THAT might kill the horse racing industry, but at least it would quiet PETA for a few years, at least until a cockroach gets stepped on by a modern day Jim Ryun coming around the far turn.
To add something more from Dark's book is he claims he was told there were certain sports writers in New York who were out to get him. Both baseball managers were in jeopardy in 1964. Yogi Berra was a recently retired player turned rookie manager who was not doing a good job. Manager turned GM Ralph Houk decided that Yogi must go and did so even though Yogi took the Yankees to Game 7 of the World Series. At Shea there were people in the organization such as M Donald Grant (son of Hockey Hall of Fame member Mike Grant) and Herbert Walker (uncle of George Bush) who felt it was time for Casey Stengel to retire and get a manager who didn't spend so much time drinking and talking with sports writers on how bad his team was. I take what Dark says with a large grain of salt but he does deserve the chance to present his side. I am skeptical about Stan Issacs since he wrote a column last year criticizing the HBO special on the Brooklyn Dodgers for having too many pro Walter O'Malley people. Isn't it the job of a good journalist to get all sides of a story?
I think one thing that hurts track and field is there is nothing to move up to. There are no professional leagues where you can follow an athlete. Ted Turner tried inventing the Goodwill Games 20 years ago after the USA and USSR olympic boycotts. Do they still exist? Decathalon stars used to be made at the Olympics: Bruce Jenner, Bob Richards, Rafer Johnson. Jim Thorpe. Does anyone care about them? Just the 17 year old 85 pound gymnasts.
Jim: Well before Stan's column Dark was facing trouble with his Hispanic players for telling them not to speak Spanish in the locker room.
And McCovey was not a fan, either.