White Jays
From Wiki Gonzalez
White Jays refers to a controversial front-page news package produced by the Toronto Star in the summer of 2003 suggesting the Blue Jays might be using racial preference in choosing their players.
The main article, written by Geoff Baker, noted that the team only had one African-American ballplayer on Opening Day, and only six "visible minorities." He quoted GM J.P. Ricciardi attributing the team's racial makeup to chance, then speculated Ricciardi imported all these white players to produce a harmonious, clique-free clubhouse. He also suggested Toronto's sagging attendance may have been because multicultural city residents were disappointed at the team's whiteness.
Baker's colleague and perennial Ricciardi antagonist Richard Griffin followed up, writing that J.P.'s sabermetric philosophy intentionally steered away from minority players by preferring patient hitters, non-basestealers, and college experience. He even declared that if Jackie Robinson were around today, he wouldn't have made the Jays because his style of play didn't fit the "new-wave" Moneyball mold. Griffin later clarified these remarks by saying he was refering to Robinson's below average college statistics, the ones that major league teams would have been scouting.
As you might expect, this caused a long thread in Primer and notoriety for the Star. The editors later apologized for the inflammatory "White Jays" headline and an accompanying series of headshots on the front page, suggesting they were an embarassment. But they stopped short of retracting any of the information contained in the stories themselves, adding that it was the packaging and not the actual story content that was causing much of the uproar.
In the years following publication of the stories, the Blue Jays roster continued to have among the fewest number of international and non-white players in the major leagues. A follow-up, front-page article by Baker in September 2005 suggested that Ricciardi and the Blue Jays had made devastating cuts to their international scouting system in previous years and were scrambling to catch up to the rest of baseball.
Baker went on to win a series of national reporting awards in Canada and the United States and was hired as a baseball writer by the Seattle Times. Griffin remains in Toronto as The Star's baseball columnist. The "White Jays" stories continue to remain part of Toronto's sports lore, inspring numerous follow-up pieces and even a rap song. The stories themselves generated more reader letters than any other item in the century-old history of the Toronto Star.
[edit] References
- Toronto Star: Whitest team in the Majors - the Primer thread from June 28, 2003
- TheStar.com - Pitch at Jays: High and wide - the retraction thread from July 6
