Every few months, a secret meeting is held between those in power within baseball’s culture to decide who and what is going to do, or say, something that reminds the world that they intend to keep the sport as hateful and white as possible.
On Friday afternoon, Jim Kaat gladly stepped up to the plate as he made a slavery reference about Chicago’s Yoán Moncada, who’s Cuban.
Some things are so vile that you need to hear them for yourselves.
(This is the part where I educate you on how Cubans are Black people, too. If you didn’t know, North America wasn’t the only place “the boats” dropped us off at.)
For those that don’t know — or care to read a history book — “40 Acres and a mule” is more than just the name of Spike Lee’s production company. It’s what was once promised to some free Black people after slavery. Ya know, since we built this entire place, we were told that we’d get 40 acres and a mule for all that free labor.
We’re still waiting on that “promise” to be fulfilled, by the way.
Now, I could go on about how two old white men (he was riffing off a Buck Showalter comment) are fetishizing the body of a man of color as if this were a slave auction, but I don’t need to. Because, as you just saw, that’s what they treated this as.
Kaat hastily apologized later in the game:
I could also talk about how the Mets can’t understand why they can’t reach a younger and more diverse fanbase, as they’re trying anything and everything to get their attention. In the same way that Rob Manfred is having meetings with a racist, misogynistic, and hateful site like Barstool Sports to “reach that same audience.”
Just add Friday’s events to the litany of examples of why “more Black kids don’t play baseball.”
I mean, why would we?
Baseball has never given a fuck about us, so we don’t give a fuck about them. And if you’re still wondering how I feel about the sport, I’ll keep it simple. Fuck baseball… forever.
Updated at 4:10 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2021: As expected, an apology was made later in the game. But I refuse to link to it or transcribe what was said — as it was a bullshit apology from a piece of shit disguised as a human being. Mind you, I was gracious enough to label him as a human, as slaves were once considered three-fifths of a person.