Chevrolet and Major League Baseball have released a ballot for the greatest Latino players ever, and Ted Williams is not on it. Some people are outraged at the omission.
In my opinion, this highlights the problem with classifying people by race or origin. It isn't that simple. And it doesn't matter.
Williams had a Mexican mother and grew up in San Diego. Is he a "latino" player? That depends on how you define latino. If you define it by blood, then yes. If you define it by country of origin, or prejudices suffered, then probably not. The GM press release says they want to honor players of "latino heritage." Does "heritage" mean bloodline, or experiential heritage associated with a particular classification? To me, a list of people that only identifies players with "latin" blood is ridiculous. Who cares? What do bloodlines have to do with quality? Why even bother to classify people by race or bloodline? I thought we were trying to get past all that. What's next, the "All-Irish" team starring Dale Murphy?
Maybe MLB/Chevrolet should have called the list "Players Born in Latin American Countries" or "Players Who Were Not U.S. Citizens" or "Players Who Were Treated as Hispanic Minorities in the United States." Clearly it makes more sense to honor those who have overcome prejudices and similar hurdles, as opposed to those who have "latin" blood in their veins. I don't see the point of compiling a list of every major league player who might qualify as "latino" by blood if they didn't have the same experiences as the latinos who were foreign-born, or non-English speaking, or otherwise identified as a different group.
Although I realize I'm treading on sensitive ground, I'm trying to figure out why it matters whether Williams is included on this list. Do latinos consider Ted Williams to be a source of pride? If so, why, unless he had similar experiences in terms of barriers and prejudices? If what he most has in common with them is a latin american parent, then using Williams as a source of pride is just a statement that bloodlines have something to do with quality. "Look, our guy with some Mexican blood is better than your guy with some Scottish blood."
Was Williams vocal about being hispanic? Did he consider it a source of pride when he played? Was he a great ambassodor for latinos? Maybe he feared prejudice when he was breaking in, but after a couple of years, Williams was the "greatest hitter that ever lived". A player of that caliber had the opportunity to cause people to look past heritage and look at merit. Yet it seems we know about Williams' hispanic lineage primarily because researchers dug up the information after Williams' playing days were over. If I were hispanic, I'd be much more proud of Felipe Alou.
Of course, the reality is that Chevy doesn't care about any of this. This is a PR stunt. They (and MLB) want to ensure they are reaching the broadest possible audience and are "inclusive," particularly in light of the recent controversy involving the San Francisco radio show host's comments about hispanics. They stepped into this morass, and they'll have to deal with those who feel Williams was slighted, but Chevy and MLB should have just left it alone.
And on the other side, if you are upset about Ted Williams being excluded, let it go. I see no point in delivering up another racial or ethnic controversy just for the sake of doing it.
