(In)Famous Bigots In Sport

Its the day after Martin Luther King Jr. day. A day where most Americans are not working like I was, otherwise this post would've been up on Monday. Nevertheless, since we at the Deuce love to do nothing but promote racial and social harmony, just like the good doctor King, and in light of the Kelly Tilghman scandal, lets take a look back at some of the sports worlds greatest bigoted members:

John Rocker

A man who if bigoted remarks were dollars, would be rich. In a Sports Illustrated interview Rocker went down the list. Lets start with Asians:

"Look! Look at this idiot! I guarantee you she's a Japanese woman." A beige Toyota is jerking from lane to lane. The woman at the wheel is white. "How bad are Asian women at driving?"

How about foreigners and homosexuals:

"Imagine having to take the [Number] 7 train to the ballpark, looking like you're [riding through] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing."

Don't forget about African Americans:

In passing, he calls an overweight black teammate "a fat monkey."

In a separate interview, he even said he has gone through more crap than Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson:

"I've taken a lot of crap from a lot of people. Probably more than anybody in the history of this sport. I know Hank [Aaron] and Jackie [Robinson] took a good deal of crap, but I guarantee it wasn't for six years. I just keep thinking: How much am I supposed to take?”

But...ya know, its all cool now, he's dating a black woman.

Bobby Fischer

The old crazy chess player who died last week was also an anti-Semitic man describing Jews as "thieving, lying bastards" and he also hated America, the country as a whole. He cemented that hatred after September 11th stating that the whole country should be blown up. Curiously enough, he was Jewish himself. No one said being a bigot didn't mean you weren't filled with self-hate.

George Preston Marshall

The former owner of the Washington Redskins (yes, he did name the team) is widely considered to be a great innovator in the NFL...and widely to be considered the sport's biggest racist. While the rest of the NFL began signing black players in 1946 and drafting black players in 1949, Marshall held out until 1962 before signing a black player to the Washington Redskins. He is quoted as saying "We'll start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites."

As a matter of fact, the only reason Marshall signed a black player was because Interior Secretary Stewart Udall issued an ultimatum to GPM saying that unless he signed a black player to the team, the government would revoke the Redskins' 30-year lease on the year-old D.C. (RFK) Stadium. Fortunately for the Redskins, the first black player that suited up for them was the great Bobby Mitchell...so, um, no harm no foul right? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Reggie White

The late great Reggie White, who on the football field was a terror, was even more frightening when he spoke. He has something fun to say about everyone!

"Homosexuality is a decision, it's not a race," White said. "People from all different ethnic backgrounds live in this lifestyle. But people from all different ethnic backgrounds also are liars and cheaters and malicious and back-stabbing."

White said he has thought about why God created different races. Each race has certain gifts, he said.

Blacks are gifted at worship and celebration, White said.

"If you go to a black church, you see people jumping up and down because they really get into it," he said.

Whites are good at organization, White said.

"You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature, and you know how to tap into money," he said.

"Hispanics were gifted in family structure, and you can see a Hispanic person, and they can put 20, 30 people in one home."

The Japanese and other Asians are inventive, and "can turn a television into a watch," White said.

Indians are gifted in spirituality, he said.

"When you put all of that together, guess what it makes: It forms a complete image of God," White said.

Oh...my...God...stop talking!!

Tim Hardaway

Not too long ago, Tim Hardaway told everyone what he felt about homosexuals. Quite plainly, he didn't like them at all. Really, you should just watch it all here

Its amazing how far he sticks his foot down his throat. I didn't think a foot could go that far.

Gary Sheffield

How great is that old Sheff picture by the way? Priceless. Anyway, in a GQ article in 2007, Sheffield said that the reason there were so many Latino players in the majors is because they are easier to control than African Americans. Specifically he said:

I called it years ago. What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, but there ain’t no English going to be coming out. … [It’s about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them,” he told the magazine.

“Where I’m from, you can’t control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that’s a person that you’re going to talk to with respect, you’re going to talk to like a man.

“These are the things my race demands. So, if you’re equally good as this Latin player, guess who’s going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys.”

This is quite the triple racist volley here because in making a racist remark he took down Latinos and Blacks with rash generalizations and he's actually calling the people who make roster decisions racist as well. Sheff is quite the complex (and racist) fellow.

Dusty Baker

In 2003 Dusty tried, in vain, to discuss biology and genetics with reporters and in doing so, set off a bit of firestorm in his comments:

"What I meant is that blacks and Latins take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latins. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that."
"It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people because most of us come from heat," Baker said. "You don't find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat?"

One has to wonder if a white manager said something like this, would he still be a manager in professional baseball? Dr. King would be proud.

Marge Schott

The former owner of the Cincinnati Reds got into a boatload of trouble for referring to her players Eric Davis and Dave Parker as "million-dollar niggers" and maintaining an unwritten team policy of not hiring blacks. Schott was also rumored to have kept an old Nazi swastika armband at her home and was once overheard saying "sneaky goddamn Jews are all alike."

To make matters worse, when Schott was trying to clear the air she stated the "million dollar niggers" comment was made in jest, but then stated that she felt that Adolf Hitler was initially good for Germany and didn't understand how the epithet "Jap" could be offensive.

Topping it all off, before an owner's conference call, Schott was overheard saying "I would never hire another nigger. I'd rather have a trained monkey working for me than a nigger."

A few years later Schott once again made statements favorable towards Adolf Hitler, whom she believed "was good in the beginning, but went too far." Then, later that same month, Schott was quoted in Sports Illustrated as speaking in a "cartoonish Japanese accent" while describing her meeting with the prime minister of Japan. She also said that she didn't like Asian-American kids "outdoing our kids" in high school.

Like John Rocker, Schott is also out of baseball, they would've made a great radio show if she didn't die from complications from smoking.

Al Campanis

Al Campanis was the general manager for the LA Dodgers up until he made his infamous remarks about African Americans on Nightline in 1987. Campanis said that blacks "may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager, or, perhaps, a general manager" when asked why there weren't any African American gm's in the league. He later in the interview said that blacks are often poor swimmers "because they don't have the buoyancy." Dunno how that relates to managerial abilities, but hey, no one said bigots have to make sense!

Fuzzy Zoeller

'Nuff said.

(Note, Jimmy The Greek wasn't included just because he was a broadcaster and we could do a whole different article on broadcaster's racism. Also, Bill Romanowski was not included because while he did spit in a black players face & beat in a black player's face, I think he was so doped up on the 'roids that he would have done that to a player of any color. Finally, Ty Cobb was not included because, in the 5 minutes of research I have done, its kind of in question whether or not he actually was a racist, a horrible man yes, but a racist, maybe not so much. Look it up. Surprised me too.)