Posted By:
Greg EcklundJohn,
I agree with you somewhat...I thought Burns had a tendency to get overbearing with the race issue at times. While it is a true injustice that the great Negro League players never got to play in the majors, Burns failed to shed much light on the positive role Baseball had to play in the integration movement as much as he did the negative aspect. Baseball was in fact one of the first aspects of society to be integrated (many schools, bathrooms, hotels, etc were still segregated at the time) and played a positive role in changing racial attitudes in this country.
My neighbor across the way grew up as a Giants fan in New York, with Willie Mays as his boyhood hero. He has told me many times that rooting for Mays and other players such as Hank Thompson and Monte Irvin played a large part in making him more open minded about all races and a great supporter of the integration movement. I think Burns missed the boat on that idea for the most part...a boy growing up with someone like Mays as his hero surely could not then support an idea that forced Mays to use a different bathroom, or his children to go to a segregated school.
I also agree that the documentary missed out on many important teams and players in the interest of staying with its main themes. The teams Bob mentioned were not seen at all, and players like Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove were also mostly ignored or mentioned for a few seconds. One issue Burns could have explored more was the plight of many players after their playing days (Foxx, Willie Keeler, and Grover Alexander are good examples) and how many players were ignored by the game and left in poverty until the Players Union secured a pension system.
I will also echo the comments about Buck O'Neil - what a true gem he is! I have met him on several occasions and he seems to be giving off pure joy at all times. Life gave Buck many chances to be bitter, but he has always kept smiling - there is nothing nicer than seeing him finally getting his due as a national treasure.