Article From September

Me, Myself And Gary
by Frank Y Pak Agostinelli

I have been really irritated of late. Part of it is due to the fact media outlets half-ass stories especially when it comes to race. Part of it is due to the fact I'm cranky. All the time. Well, this is what my better half says. It is no secret the media can dictate the tempo of the game. The game of life. Whether it is nonsensical Paris Hilton crap or serious world issues. One of the things contributing to my irritation is the misconstruing of Detroit Tiger Gary Sheffield's comments. There was one incident involving Sheffield and his comments about Latino baseball players in GQ but I am going to breakdown the second one. Sheffield was interviewed by HBO's Real Sports Andrea Kremer with the commentary showing up on sports pages July 13. A little history on Sheffield: he's know to say what's on his mind and he is not well-liked by media types. The consensus will say, "he's making a million dollars playing a kid's game and should just keep quiet." In this day and age where people are looking for an athlete to speak about life’s issues, when one not favored speaks up, the old standby of making a million . . . kid’s game comes up. I am like many Mixed Asians who would love Tiger Woods to say anything but unless you live in a cave somewhere and draw pictures on the cave wall documenting everyday life with sticks, you do know why Woods keeps his feelings to himself. Other than the usual "The course looks good. My swing feels good. I like my chances," you won't hear Woods speak about race (Sorry anthropologists). He is a walking billboard for all races. Back to Sheffield. By all accounts he is truthful but lacks the grace of a true orator. He comes off like sashimi. This does not detract from his point except to those who do not like him and dismiss anything of value he says. With that said, here is the link to the article with emphasis on the exchange.

Sheffield says Torre treats black players differently from white players and says Jeter, who is from a mixed-race marriage, "ain't all the way black," during the interview with Andrea Kremer, as reported by Newsday.
Sheffield, who was traded to the Detroit Tigers during the off-season, claimed that black and white players in the Yankees’ clubhouse were treated differently, specifically how players Tony Womack and Kenny Lofton were handled by Torre. In the interview with HBO, Sheffield says the black players on the Yankees' roster would be "called out" in the clubhouse by Torre, while the white players would be called into Torre's office to discuss matters.
"They weren't treated like everybody else. I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought were unfair," Sheffield told Kremer.
Sheffield later added: "He had a message to get across to the whole team, so he used me to get the message across." Sheffield said Torre didn't use the same method with white players.
"No ... I'd see a lot of white players get called in the office and treated like a man. That's the difference."
When asked Saturday to respond to Sheffield's comments, Lofton said: "All I can say is, Sheffield knows what he's talking about. That's all I'm going to say," Lofton told the AP in the Texas Rangers' dugout just before the team took batting practice.
Sheffield said he doesn't consider Torre a racist. "No. I think it's the way they do things around there," he said. "Since I was there I just saw that they run their ship different."
At that point, Kremer says to Sheffield that the Yankees most high-profile player is black. "Who?" Sheffield says.
Told Jeter, Sheffield says: "Derek Jeter is black and white."
Later, he said there was no real significance to Jeter's bi-racial heritage, but added: "Derek Jeter used to come to me and try to tell you what Joe Torre is all about, he's a good man, he's this, he's that, but like I tell Derek Jeter, that's you. It's one thing that they treat you a certain way; you don't feel what other people feel."
In the visiting clubhouse at Safeco Field on Friday, Sheffield stood behind what he said -- that Torre is not a racist -- but also tried to clarify some statements. In the piece, when it was mentioned that the Yankees' most prominent player -- Derek Jeter -- is black, Sheffield quickly clarified that Jeter is "black and white."
When asked the significance of that, Sheffield said, "It's really no significance. It's just you ain't all the way black."
On Friday, Sheffield said he and the Yankees shortstop were best friends on the team, and that Sheffield's son is also of mixed race.
"They're trying to make it a problem with him, when my son is the same. I'd say the same thing about my son," Sheffield said. "No one knows he's black until they look at the back of his jersey and see 'Sheffield.'"

I'll say it right now. I love Gary Sheffield. This isn't a man-crush and I am not an overzealous fan. I see a lot of Gary in me, probably because we're both Scorpios, and I was labeled a long time ago, "someone who says what's on his mind." People have a very difficult time swallowing something they don’t want to hear and will quickly look for someone to execute the Heimlich maneuver on them. This is exactly what Sheffield did. Tell you something you didn't want to hear because we all know every single race in America holds hands on Friday night by the campfire and sings in unison, Kumbyya. You will never see Sheffield giving commencement speeches at Brown, Colombia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania or Yale. He will not be accepting the Lexicon Eloquence Award any time soon. Those who desire to be spoon-fed (and why are you still in a "high" chair?) and refuse to tweak their reading/listening comprehension skills will dismiss Sheffield as an angry, Black man. He's angry, yes. He's Black, yes. And he's right. It wasn't too long ago, Jackie Robinson (1947) was receiving death threats for being arguably one of the best baseball players in the majors. It wasn't too long ago Hank Aaron (1973) was receiving death threats because he was about to and did pass Babe Ruth's home run record. Sheffield stating Torre gives preferential treatment to White players on the Yankees in comparison to Black players was backed up by Kenny Lofton. I'm curious to know who set the standard that being biased also means one is racist especially when pertaining to the situation Sheffield spoke of? Sheffield stated Joe Torre isn’t racist. His sentiments were the Yankee clubhouse was run differently. End of story. But the politically ass-kissing eeeeerrrr! correct media folks attempted to place Sheffield in a bad light and spin it as to say, "Sheffield called Torre a racist." Sheffield made an observation. Since when does one get in trouble for speaking the truth?

In addition, this wasn't an event foretold in ancient writings when he said Jeter "ain't all the way Black." He brought this to the attention of everyone who reads the sports pages and to those who are so myopic they believe the USA is full of racial harmony. I am guessing some, strike that, many people missed the boat on Derek Jeter's racial background. Andrea Kremer should of known this! No matter what one's field of work is, you better know it thoroughly and if you do not, you're making the effort. Kremer's statement shows me how people overlook these facts (which was very important because she stated the most prominent player on the New York Yankees was Black) and Mixed Race people. I could introduce a scenario and say maybe Kremer was being a smart ass and doesn’t exchange Christmas cards with Sheffield. It is an empirical fact in this country, what you look like is what you are. What you appear to be is what people mentally check off and expect you to check off too! In other words, if you're Blasian and appear more Black, you're Black (Chad Morton). If you're Hapa and appear more White, you're White (Keanu Reeves). If you're Mulatta and win an Oscar for best actress, you're the first African-American actress (Halle Berry) to win the award. If you have crazy red hair and have the name Carrot-Top, you're a kook.



I have a couple of friends who have Native American blood flowing through them but you couldn't tell by their appearance. Is it gross disregard of this person's background? I wouldn't go this far but it is still disregarding the facts. To some White Americans, for whom the closest they have been to anything mixed was looking over the Chinese take-out menu, ordering General Tso's Chicken combo and having the egg roll replaced with French fries, Jeter is White. To those of us who are Mixed Race, we know what Jeter is. It is shameful for this is the year 2007. It is shameful there are those among us who haven’t the foggiest idea about multiracial people. I'd would gloss myself a supra-hypocrite if I stated emphatically "this should be number 1 on their to-do-list," when it's not number 1 on my list but it is on the list. With the centuries of nomadic journeys, maritime travels, and worldwide colonization that have produced multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural people, many people in the USA need to get a clue. Or at least check their inbox for the memo.

On a personal note, Sheffield's stating Jeter ain't all the way Black reminds me of many situations involving the roll call of my ethnic make-up. Imagine, and I can see it like it was yesterday, the look of utter amazement that came across the face of the person when they asked, "you’re Italian?" after hearing my last name. I should of answered, I ain't all the way Italian.