Sheff Being Sheff
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by Aharner
Notoriously outspoken Gary Sheffield has again made headlines by calling Joe Torre saying Torre doesn't treat black and white the players the same.
"Black players are treated differently than white players, particularly at Yankee Stadium. Black players had an issue with Joe Torre. They weren't treated like everybody else. Even I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought was unfair." ~ Gary Sheffield to HBO's Andrea Kremer
What about Derek Jeter who's father is black and mother is white?
"Derek Jeter is black and white. There's really no significance. [He] just ain't all the way black." ~ Sheffield
So that means Joe Torre is a racist right? Well, according to Sheffield, he is not.
A quick look back at history can make you wonder about the credabilility of Sheffield's word. Darryl Strawberry was in tears after the 1999 World Series and openly thanked Torre for giving him a chance to play. Mariano Rivera has never had a beef with Torre. Neither has Bernie Williams.
Buster Olney brought up a good point in his ESPN Blog.
"Torre's way of handling slumps, sometimes, is to call out the best players -- the players who he believes possess the most confidence to deal with criticism; it's a way of drawing all the players together. If he picks on only the youngest and most fragile players, like a Clay Bellinger or an Andy Phillips or a Colter Bean, then he would have no credibility. He's criticized Clemens in meetings and Jeter and O'Neill and Williams."
That makes perfect sense. Sheffield should almost feel honored that his manager called him out. Perhaps, Torre thought highly of Sheffield. Perhaps, it is part Torre's fault and part Sheffield's fault. Sheffield probably should have appraoched Torre after the meetings in question and discussed his feelings.
Sheffield later gave several exscuses when asked about the interview, making himself look like the goat. "I'm always put into situations where I will fail." "When you're hearing from your manager that they should have gotten Vladimir Guerrero, that's disrespectful, but nobody ever came to my defense and said it was."
It's like Manny being Manny according to a baseball person. And he/she is right. Sheffield has always been outspoken about himself, so why start taking these seriously now?
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