What Willie Said
Obviously, Willie should not have said what he said.
You’d have to be naïve to believe that racism doesn’t play a part, for some people, in the anger and bitterness that has been directed at Willie Randolph lately. But you’d have to be terribly unfair to think that it’s a prominent reason. Mets fans, after the historic choke of last season and the mediocre beginning of this one, have a sense that their team lacks fire and direction. In a situation like this, it’s perfectly plausible to blame the man who is supposed to lead and set the tone for the team. Any manager with a laid back manner and a controversial managerial style is going to get crap from the fans in a situation like this. Ask Art Howe. Race is not the main issue.
And what is this with SNY? Sure they put the camera on him when something bad happens. That’s the way news coverage and sports coverage works. He knows that. And Gary, Keith, and Ron are wonderfully respectful towards Willie. How would he like it if Tim McCarver was back in our booth second-guessing all his moves?
And how about this timing? Finally the air is cleared after the Mets have a meeting and decide not to be distracted by off-the-field stuff. Finally they get their heads together to play up to their potential and clobber the Yankees. All attention is on our opportunity to beat the Braves right after beating the Yankees. And then before you can blink, we’re all back in the media stew. We’re not in the glorious green world of the ballpark. We’re in the jam on the LIE, listening to Mike and the Mad Dog in an endless loop. What a complete and total bummer.
Willie must have known that this was not the time to say what he said. Why would someone who hates off-the-field distractions want to go out and create a big one at the wrongest moment imaginable? There’s only one answer to this question.
Willie must have meant it.
You know how sometimes you’re having a fight with someone and everybody’s finally calmed down and things are all right and then you just can’t help but say something that shows how hurt you were that the other person said what they said before things calmed down? I think this happened here. I don’t think that Willie thinks that racism is the big issue. But my guess is that he can’t help but feel as if it is. I think that like most African-Americans, Willie has had to deal all his life with people who just don’t like him for some reason and don’t want to give him a chance. And I think that when you’ve had to deal with crap like that, it is sometimes hard to put things in perspective when you are suddenly the object of so much intense hostility, when you’ve been doing your job with a pretty fair amount of success for three years. If you’ve looked at the Internet boards and if you’ve listened to the radio, you know how over-the-top the blame-Willie, we-hate-Willie stuff has been. I know this stuff is not necessarily racist. I know it just bubbles up out of the angst of being a Mets fan at this particular moment. But what may be happening is that Willie is mistaking one kind of unfair hostility towards him with another. That may not be fair of him, but I can certainly understand why he feels this way.
The problem, coincidentally, is the same problem Tom Glavine identified at the end of last year in a statement he certainly should not have made. When he said that he was disappointed and not devastated (as we were) to lose the last game of the season in the first inning, he was trying to tell us to back off, to understand that baseball is only a game. This comment was foolish. Tom should have known how much that last game meant to Mets fans, and he should have been devastated, and not merely disappointed. But I can understand where people like Tom and Willie are coming from. They must wonder: how can all of these strangers be so emotionally involved in what happens as I try my best to do my job? Why, if I look as if I’m screwing up, do they actually go so far as to hate me? It’s a reasonable question, but it’s also kind of a dumb question. That’s what this thing is. Baseball is something a baseball fan is passionate about. Sometimes our passion will come after you guys and sometimes it will look like some of the worst things in the world. At other times our passion will lift you to the heavens.
Everybody’s going to be talking for the next couple of days about how unfair and unwise Willie’s comments were. The game I’m watching right now is not going well, so it’s not going to save us. What I’d really like is if in addition to talking about how unfair Willie was, we also recognize something about the anguish that would have prompted him to say what he shouldn’t have said. It must not be easy for these guys, no matter how much money they make or glory they get. Yeah, they should put up with it, yeah, heat, kitchen all that stuff. Yeah, and they’re human beings too.
We should treat them with some understanding. And they should understand where we’re coming from. It is true that baseball is just a game, that it isn’t real. But that’s like saying American Idol isn’t real, or Harry Potter. The statement is true, in the most obvious and literal way. But it ‘s not true.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:10 am
I remember an article about Nelson Doubleday in Forbes (or Fortune) in spring of 1987…the writer said that Doubleday’s eyes teared up when talking about the 86 Mets, and, from memory, so maybe not verbatim, he said, “I had no idea how much this team meant to this city.”
Not just “this city.” All of us. I was catatonic in 99 when went to work after the Kenny Rogers RBI to Andruw. My then-boss, a former Georgian, a very prominent player in DC, and a big Braves fan, ducked into my office and said, “Chris, I know you’re unhappy, but that was some damned great baseball…” And I said, “Jody, get the the hell out of here.” He backed off carefully.
It’s insane, idiotic, moronic, and totally true, as you say, Dana.
I wish Willie had shown more of the noble stoicism that has seemed to be his trademark. He, more than most, must understand the ferocious emotion we bring to the Mets.
For the record, I’ve reviled a few Mets, for different reasons, of varying races. George Foster disgusted me, as did Dave Kingman. Bleach Boy Saberhagen was an idiot as a Met. And Darryl’s “beautiful downtown Johannesburg” or whatever non-quote from his book is still beyond belief.
Willie: Hang tough, and don’t hang things on a rack that isn’t there.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Ya know, when I heard this during the game yesterday, my immediate reaction was one of disbelief. Disbelief that someone would be so foolish as to feed the new york press the kind of crap that Willie fed to them. This comes from a guy who says that he knows new york, that he grew up in Brooklyn and a guy that played in that turbulent yankee clubhouse in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Therefore, I was shocked that he could be so stupid. Then I thought, well maybe he is attempting to be the lightning rod for this team….To deflect attention from his players. Sadly though, I don’t think Willie is that media savvy. Prior to these comments, I was a huge Willie fan. Last Thursday I was shouting down a fan at Shea for booing Willie. I have always said that Willie does not tell Jose to take an unnecessary extra base, or to swing at pitches out of the zone, he does not tell Heilman to groove a meatball right into the opposition’s wheelhouse time and time again or tell Delgado to hit into a double play. The players are responsible for “how” they play during a game. The manager is responsible for strategy and in game maneuvers. Having said that, I am now leaning toward having Willie go. These recent comments will only serve to further divide the clubhouse and create further distraction. I can just imagine what Billy Wagner was saying when he heard these comments(oh, to be a fly on that wall). On top of that, how does he not manage to motivate this team when entering Atlanta for a double header. These guys are right back to playing like a mediocre lifeless overpaid bunch of brats that can’t seem to make a pitch or come through with a clutch hit.
I am growing weary of this nonsense and I feel that it is time for a change. The only way that change comes is with a manager move whether that is fair or not. Some kind of spark must be created for this team. The only problem is who? I would like to see Ken Oberkfell brought up to manage the club. But, how will he be able to command the respect of the veterans on this team. The right guy would have been Pinella, but he is too busy winning in Chicago. Boy, do I miss Bobby V and his silly antics. At least we would be able to laugh. To think that the Wilpons found Bobby V to controversial…I can only imagine what is being said now in that front office.
Really I have no idea and am now grasping at straws. What I do know is that I will continue my boycott of the fan. The guys on that station are sensationalistic buffoons that don’t know the first thing about how to play baseball. Constanly projecting their views as though it is sage expertise. When the reality is that a yankee fan and giant fan relish the idea of a met collapse. Their attempts to stoke the fears of Mets fan are poorly disguised as they rhapsodize about how Mike knows for “a fact” that Omar and Willie don’t get along and that “people” close the Mets say the Wilpons are not happy…etc…etc…etc. Pure Shit!
The only way to stop this crap is to win. Willie deserves to go to the all-star break. If this team is still the mystery that it is today(.500 ballclub), it may be time to clarify things and let him go.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I was really stunned by Willie’s statements, most of all because they seemed so far from what I think I know and respect about Willie. Unlike a lot of fans, I really respected Willie’s even-keel, rational approach. Go figure. I’m as crazy as anyone, but I know how certain emotions can disrupt one’s ability to get something done– like counting beans, writing articles, inputting data, and winning baseball games. When I need to get something done, I don’t want to be wracked with what some people call “passion.” I just need to concentrate on what I’m doing. For a long time after a lot of people had totally flipped on Willie and were calling for his head, I would look admiringly at Willie, and think he was the guy I would want in a foxhole with me. I guess it all depends on what buttons get pushed.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Dana, as usual, you’re being much too kind and much too understanding, and I say those things with the utmost respect for you.
I think you are giving Willie way too much benefit of the doubt here. If racism really doesn’t play into it, which I think most sane people would agree that people don’t hate Willie because he’s black, then why bring it up? Looking for a place to hang your hat, Willie? Methinks the answer is yes. And the stuff about SNY, and how they portray him? Nonsense. Just plain and utter horsesh*t. And his feelings that Mets fans ought to fall down at his feet and worship him after the debaucle of Art Howe? Well, let’s take a look, shall we? Art Howe had a far less talented team than Willie, and was not really expected to take the marginal team he had anywhere, really. Willie, otoh, was given a stable of stars and future stars, and was expected to go somewhere, and except for 2006, he’s gone nowhere, and has managed to reach about .500 over the last year. Not much of an improvement on Howe, if you ask me, and with much more talent.
And with much more whining, complaining, paranoia, and other ridiculous stuff.
The only way Willie saves his job after this year, imo, is if the team makes the postseason. Which right now, is a tossup at best, imo.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
On the blackly comic side, our guys, GKR were in vintage form last night. They often seem to be at their best when the Mets are at their worst– or it’s that Keith gets particularly antsy and loopy, and his two colleagues egg him on. Last night was great for the entertaining digression. We heard about Keith weathering an Oklahoma tornado in the minor leagues– trying to save his new fancy stereo equipment, he ended up soaking wet with poison oak. Keith also took that walkabout to the upper deck; Ron described his younger son’s identity crisis (”Dad, our last name is horrible”); Keith and Ron confessed crushes on Natalie Wood and Claudia Cardinale, respectively; Keith also reported that he and his mom cried at “West Side Story,” while his dad and brother remained unmoved.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 am
I do agree with everything everyone has said here. I’m not just saying that. I was really upset with Willie’s comments, and I am even more upset after this Braves series. They were uncalled for, wrong, and strategically insane. Still, what I am feeling towards him right now is not hostility. It is a kind of stunned compassion. I’ve been defending Willie for a year. I’ve admired him so much for his even temper, for his ability to see the positive in a situation, etc. I was stunned by what he said because it suddenly revealed to me how much pain and anger he must have been feeling under that calm, unvarying exterior. At least for the first couple of months of this year and the last couple of months of last year. You know how it is, somebody seems to be okay, and then they suddenly crack and you feel kind of ashamed for not knowing what they were feeling. I think Willie cracked. I think he regrets it. I don’t think he was playing the race card to get sympathy (he’s much too smart to think that would have worked). And yes, the only way he comes out of this with his job and his dignity is if they start winning. If the Mets are still floundering at the All-Star break, they probably do need a change. But I’ll be really sad for him.
I accidentally didn’t see the game last night. I figured it was postponed and I got involved in the primary stuff. I can’t believe that Keith and Ron confessed crushes on Natalie Wood and Claudia Cardinale. I have always had crushes on both of them. Claudia Cardinale in Visconti’s The Leopard is arguably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen on a screen.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Dana, here’s a transcript of Keith’s tornado narrative. It’s not hard to hear his voice in your head saying it:
KH:Back in 1974…it was just, one tornado hit about 20 blocks from me and I was terrified.
GC: Did you see it?
KH:Once the clouds came over, it was right out of Dorothy, I mean the Wizard of Oz…they were pea green, like pea soup. I was in a matchbox apartment complex, I didn’t know where to go, and it was raining so hard and I had my windows open because they say always have the windows open because of the pressure.
But it was raining on my beautiful new stereo system so I closed the windows…I had read about these apartments going up like matchboxes so I ran outside and ran into a gully…I’m in my bathing suit and before I knew it the water was almost chest high…there were trees so I said I’m gonna drown if a tree falls on me, so I ran back inside my apartment.
GC: Wait a second, you ran outside during a hurricane?
KH: No, a tornado
RD: Why were you in your bathing suit?! (laughing)
KH: Because we’d been playing volleyball in the pool, and they called a game during the day. I’m not making it up. When the next day came I got poison oak in that gully from head to toe. And I had to get a cortisone shot and we went to Omaha by bus, and it was 105 in Omaha and I played the game head to toe in poison oak…that’s a true story. So I never want to see another tornado.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
That’s Keith. What can I say? As we learn from his announcing, as a person he seems to be very different from the paragon of focus and concentration and supreme savviness we saw playing first base. I think that my comparison of him to Beaver Cleaver is apt. Thank you for the transcript of that supreme Keithism.