On Wednesday, just before Game 4 of the World Series, Major League Baseball will announce the results of fan voting for the first Latino Legends Team. Presumably balloting will begin soon on baseball’s first-ever Jewish Legends Team, the Asian Legends Team and the prestigious Canadian Legends Team.
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Pardon my cynicism, but for a sport that spent the first half of its existence excluding an entire race of people based on skin color, promoting the idea of an All-Star team limited by national origin is a bad idea.
Give baseball credit, though, because its intentions were good. Recognizing the rich history of baseball in Latin America and the contributions Latin players have made–and continue to make–is something that should have been done long ago. But there are a lot more meaningful ways to do that than by having fans select a segregated All-Star team.
The advocacy group Hispanics Across America has called on baseball to have every team retire Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente’s No. 21, as the sport did with Jackie Robinson’s No. 42. Dozens of current and former stars have come out in support of the proposal, which Commissioner Bud Selig has said he will study.
But this, too, is a bad idea.
Clemente may have been the first Latin elected to the Hall of Fame, but because of the way he died, attempting to deliver relief supplies to victims of a deadly earthquake in Nicaragua, honoring his legacy by hanging his uniform number on an outfield wall almost seems like an insult.
What’s more, if baseball retires Clemente’s number as a tribute to Latin players, shouldn’t it also retire Sandy Koufax’s No. 32 or Hank Greenberg’s No. 5 to honor Jewish players? And 10 years from now will it retire No. 51 for Ichiro, the greatest Japanese player in big-league history?
Meanwhile, each number retired chips away at the significance of the tribute to Robinson, whose courage and accomplishments merit a singular honor that must never be challenged.