The Neverending Story

Ken Burns Baseball Ahem

Over the past few weeks I watched Ken Burns Baseball.  I skipped the  premier run on PBS,  because I wasn't willing to commit to a series that long (and I'm an all-or-nothing personality).  Also, I was quite busy here, saving the union from the spector of  a "President Kerry."  While I enjoyed it, somewhere around the 1960's it struck me that a better title would be Ken Burns Civil Rights: Oppression of the American Negro. While I acknowledge the injustice of barring Black Americans from playing in the major leagues (through an owner's gentleman's agreement), that was resolved by Jackie Robinson in 1949.  But, no.  Burns is entirely caught up in the American Liberal's concept of original sin, from which there is no atoning for.  Ever.  Even electing a mystery man with no past as president, because he's black, has only led to more racial turmoil. Ken Burns style, of course, is to employ a kind-of deus-ex-machina device.  In his Civil War series, it was the disembodied voice reading poignant letters, or historians like Shelby Foote and FDR apologist Doris Kearns Goodwin chipping in with historical insights, with still pictures in the backdrop.  In Baseball,  Goodwin (is she sleeping with Burns?) quite nicely recalls growing up in Brooklyn, and her passion for the Dodgers.  Baseball aficionado George Will  is there too. Negro League superstar Buck O'Neil was himself a mainstay  He has a kindly, sage visage, and is a very effective story teller (I want to cite Uncle Remus, but can't. Obviously). So much time (I'm guessing about 30%) is spent on baseball's apartheid, that unless you played for a New York baseball club, or made a error whilst playing for Boston, you may as well had never played.  How can nearly a full day's (22 hours)  focus on the sport miss Cleveland's (Fear Strike Out) Jimmy Piersall? Or knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm (whom I watch no-hit the hated Yankees)?  Nuh-uh.  No time.  The list goes on and on. If you're are a young Black-kid watching this series, you probably  leave with a feeling of bitterness (as did Jackie Robinson himself leave baseball).  No wonder we can't seem to move-on in this country. It's not allowed. As an aside -  In my yoot,  I despised Curt Flood for challenging baseball's reserve clause, the system whereby a player was owned by a club.  Because it just made no sense to me that government could dictate to the owners how they run their business,  Especially in this, where as Flood points out, the public perception was a battle of millionaire ball-players suing millionaire owners for their freedom.  After watching Flood in this series, I grew to admire, and even like him, without siding with him.  This is not a bitter man, but a man.  Who walked his talk. But here's what made my jaw drop. In 1994 the players went on strike (causing cancellation the World Series!) over baseball owner's attempt to impose a salary cap.  It came down to a federal judge to determine — “ ...  if baseball’s leaders had undermined collective bargaining by trying to abandon some of the fundamental ways in which they dealt with the players. The owners’ militancy symbolized their frustrations with player salaries, and with how frequently the union had outflanked management in negotiations and public relations. ” The judge ruled for the players  The judge was Sonia Sotomayor.