Former MLB pitcher C.C. Sabathia releases new book, says "The game is not for us."

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C.C. Sabathia Spills the Tea on What It's Like to Be Black in Major League Baseball: 'This Sport Is Not for Us'

The six-time MLB All-Star gets a few things off his chest in his new memoir, 'Till the End.'

The beauty of retirement is that it not only affords you the opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments, but the arduous journey along the way. After 19 years of professional baseball, C.C. Sabathia, one of the most beloved players of this generation, has released a memoir that chronicles every trial and triumph that defined his fabled career.

Sadly, part of playing in a predominantly white sport like baseball means that there are a multitude of factors you will always have to contend with that have absolutely nothing to do with your ability to perform on the field. And in a series of excerpts from Till the End, the 2009 World Series champ reveals what it’s like to be Black in Major League Baseball.

In the summer of 2016, much like the rest of us, Sabathia found himself reeling from the officer-related murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling—the “the latest in a long string of Black Americans dying at the hands of police officers,” as the Yankees legend puts it. But instead of finding comfort in his teammates, he instead was met with a stereotypical response: “Why don’t they just obey?”

From Vanity Fair:

As I had learned about team culture and chemistry over the years, one of my main rules for building team peace and unity, for keeping the focus on winning games, had become, “No talking politics.” If it came up in the clubhouse, I would just say, “Shut the fuck up.” Because you don’t want to hate guys. Our views may be different, and we’d grown up different, but in the locker room and on the field, we needed to be pulling in the same direction every day.

But when I heard that about “Why don’t they just obey?” the heat rose in my chest. I couldn’t let this go. I didn’t get mad. I tried to explain. I talked about growing up in the Crest, an all-Black neighborhood in Vallejo, California. I love my hometown. But it was a place where young Black kids did not get second chances, so everything took on more intensity, higher stakes. Even when we were having fun growing up, you knew you weren’t far from slipping off an edge. One night, when I was probably sixteen, I was in a car with a group of friends. We were driving back to the neighborhood and we had just turned onto Sage Street, maybe six blocks from my house, when the cops pulled us over for no reason. Mom had talked to me for years about being very, very careful around the police, especially when you were in a car. When you’re Black in those situations you can do everything right and still be a split-second from disaster. One cop walked up and told me to roll down my window. The window mechanism was broken, and you had to stick a pen in the handle to crank it open, so I reached down toward the floor. Big mistake. Suddenly there was a gun to my head and my face was pressed into the ground.

We had no idea whether we would be arrested or shot right there on the ground. Fortunately, neither one happened that time, but the exact same situation had ended badly for hundreds of Black kids just like me.

My teammates—all of them young, white, and having grown up in the suburbs—didn’t believe me. Their response was that one of us must have done something wrong—cops didn’t act that way without a good reason.


Sounds about white.

In another excerpt published by The Undefeated, Sabathia reveals that Black players throughout the league have their own sort of fraternity:

When I first came up, there were so many Black players in the league you had the luxury of not liking some of them. The Latino guys all hung out together, because they were the real minority in the game at the time. By this point, though, that was us. We all knew one another. We all talked to one another. We had to talk to one another. I had a million white friends in the game, guys who couldn’t be more on the opposite end of the spectrum from me in how they grew up or in their political views. But if you saw another Black dude on the other team, it’s automatic: Oh, we’re going to dinner tonight. It didn’t matter that for three hours on the field I did everything I could to beat them; after games I’d hang with Mookie Betts, David Price, Adam Jones, Marcus Stroman. All the Black players were in a text group. It was self-defense, self-preservation.
He also expresses his belief that Major League Baseball isn’t for Black players.

You can play baseball a long time, have a lot of fun, and make a lot of money. But right now, this sport is not for us, and we know that. If the game doesn’t change, it’s going to be in trouble, and not just with Black people.I know there’s been a lot of debate about the “Indians” nickname, but Cleveland is taking a positive step by replacing it. Could I have said that when I was playing in Cleveland? Yes, but taking on racial issues when you’re a Black baseball player is incredibly complicated. For one thing, you are almost always in a serious minority. That’s why you’ve seen more Black NFL and NBA players speak out than MLB players — there’s strength in numbers. There were plenty of years in Cleveland when I was the only Black player on the roster; New York was better, but even with the Yankees, most seasons I was one of a maximum of four or five Black players on the 25-man roster. That’s a lonely place to be at any point in your career, but especially if you’re a younger guy trying to prove yourself in the game. You want to hold on to your job and you want to feel like you’re part of the team, not an outcast, not the “angry Black guy.”
I can’t even imagine what it must be like to endure this type of bullshit for 19 days let alone 19 years, but shout out to Sabathia for using his platform to bring light to these issues and make things easier for the next generation of Black athletes. Also, make sure you scoop up Till the End, which dropped on Tuesday.


Cue CAC outrage in 3...2....1....
 
I know the feeling he experienced, I worked at the refrigerated warehouse where I was the only brotha, the rest of the people there were Hispanics and White dudes. During lunch I sat by myself the majority of the time. I'm sure cacs thought because I was a big black man I'd be lazy, I worked my ass off, they had no choice but to respect me and they also knew I didn't take shit from nobody. Cac supervisor use to talk to them Hispanic dudes like children, he tried that shit with me only once and I told his ass off lol.

When I did that he had me come into the supervisor office with him and other supervisors, he went on about how I talked back to him. After he finished giving his little speech, I told him I come here and work my ass off and don't say nothing to nobody. I told him I'm a grown ass man and you will address me as such. I do what you ask me to do with no complaints but you not going to talk down to me. He probably thought I was going to bitch up but he found out quickly I ain't that type of dude. Mexican dudes wouldn't say shit because some of them were here illegally lol so he knew he could talk to them any kind of way... :smh:

Most places we as black people go here in this country, we the only black people there. My boy who has a college degree was in upper management, he was always surrounded by mostly white folks.
 
way to re
I know the feeling he experienced, I worked at the refrigerated warehouse where I was the only brotha, the rest of the people there were Hispanics and White dudes. During lunch I sat by myself the majority of the time. I'm sure cacs thought because I was a big black man I'd be lazy, I worked my ass off, they had no choice but to respect me and they also knew I didn't take shit from nobody. Cac supervisor use to talk to them Hispanic dudes like children, he tried that shit with me only once and I told his ass off lol.

When I did that he had me come into the supervisor office with him and other supervisors, he went on about how I talked back to him. After he finished giving his little speech, I told him I come here and work my ass off and don't say nothing to nobody. I told him I'm a grown ass man and you will address me as such. I do what you ask me to do with no complaints but you not going to talk down to me. He probably thought I was going to bitch up but he found out quickly I ain't that type of dude. Mexican dudes wouldn't say shit because some of them were here illegally lol so he knew he could talk to them any kind of way... :smh:

Most places we as black people go here in this country, we the only black people there. My boy who has a college degree was in upper management, he was always surrounded by mostly white folks.
good stuff. Way to represent. :yes:
 
I got to Long Island to work at a Country Club for the summer. I got a new vehicle in which the Temp tag expires on July 9. On June 27 I get pulled over about my tag. :hithead:
 
Props, going get the book. His all the smoke podcast interviews was good, and hearing how the bay rappers respect him is was good also on the Nore podcast.
 
I'm old enought to remember when MLB Baseball was real black in the early 80's to the mid 90's, after that i don't
know what the hell happened :smh:

Old story but good read.

 
Lil off topic… but working corporate was a MUTHAFUCKA being a young black male. I worked at JP Morgan thru 1992-95 lemme tell ya 578 employees only 12-15 black males. Being 6’3 230( at that time) white folks always scared of ya.. I don’t fuck with the white chics nor do I kiss ass so I was always looked like the “angry negro”.. even had my Supervisor say to me… hey.. why don’t you smile more and joke around like Keith and Troy( who were also black) I said… cause I’m not them.. so they afraid of me? You want me to shuffle n jive next?!! I’m here to do my job not to entertain to ease THEM! Foh!
 
Black ballers fought hard for this. Negro leaguers fought for recognition. I hope youngsters don't completely leave this game.
 
I know the feeling he experienced, I worked at the refrigerated warehouse where I was the only brotha, the rest of the people there were Hispanics and White dudes. During lunch I sat by myself the majority of the time. I'm sure cacs thought because I was a big black man I'd be lazy, I worked my ass off, they had no choice but to respect me and they also knew I didn't take shit from nobody. Cac supervisor use to talk to them Hispanic dudes like children, he tried that shit with me only once and I told his ass off lol.

When I did that he had me come into the supervisor office with him and other supervisors, he went on about how I talked back to him. After he finished giving his little speech, I told him I come here and work my ass off and don't say nothing to nobody. I told him I'm a grown ass man and you will address me as such. I do what you ask me to do with no complaints but you not going to talk down to me. He probably thought I was going to bitch up but he found out quickly I ain't that type of dude. Mexican dudes wouldn't say shit because some of them were here illegally lol so he knew he could talk to them any kind of way... :smh:

Most places we as black people go here in this country, we the only black people there. My boy who has a college degree was in upper management, he was always surrounded by mostly white folks.
Unfortunately, the downside to being successful in this country is being surrounded by white people. That's why it's imperative we CREATE/HAVE OUR OWN SHIT, so then, we can CHOOSE, to higher our own and be surrounded by our own. That's what I've done, every single person that works for me is black period and that's the way it's going to be till I die.
 
I'm old enought to remember when MLB Baseball was real black in the early 80's to the mid 90's, after that i don't
know what the hell happened :smh:
I think the love for football and basketball grew so great baseball wasn’t even thought upon
 
Baseball found the black man's athleticism without the anger and venom caused by slavery by looking across the border and found Spanish players who would take fractions of a signing bonus.

I'm old enought to remember when MLB Baseball was real black in the early 80's to the mid 90's, after that i don't
know what the hell happened :smh:
Old story but good read.

 
There are NO whites who don’t believe you. They know that shit happens. And they also know it won’t happen to their kids. Many whites I know get fucked with by cops but see it differently. It’s like one woman’s perspective on being hit on at the bar versus another. To one, it’s a necessary evil, just smile and say “No thank you”, where another woman could find the entire process off putting and Metoo your ass. The story goes by how they feel in the moment.
 
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