What would "Jackie Robinson Day" in Major League Baseball be without a race-related media uproar created by lefties in the press box? On today's 71st anniversary of the breaking of baseball's color barrier by Robinson, left-stream sports writers are throwing hissy-fits because the Cleveland Indians tried to sell baseball hats honoring Robinson and featuring the Chief Wahoo logo that will be banished to baseball's happy hunting grounds after this season.
As Newsbusters' Matt Philbin reported Jan. 29, the smiling face of Chief Wahoo will suffer liberal-induced branding death when this season comes to an end. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred deemed Wahoo "no longer appropriate for on-field use." I guess the old chief's tearful, gift-laden farewell tour of major league ballparks this season is off!
The hat that enraged overly sensitive sports media featured Chief Wahoo on the front of an Indians' cap and an emblem bearing Jackie Robinson's No. 42 on the side. Oh, the inhumanity!
Toronto sports writer Morgan Campbell, who toils on the increasingly congested intersection of sports and politics, tweeted his anger over the continued presence of the chief's smiling face:
"The Cleveland MLB club is seriously selling #JackieRobinsonDay Wahoo hats. They doing it with a straight face or a Chief Wahoo sh t-eating grin?"
USA Today's Steven Ruiz asked:
"What's the best way to celebrate Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier? Wearing a cap that features an unabashedly racist caricature of a Native American, of course."
Nick Stellini of The Sporting News tweeted:
Then there's the contribution of NBC Sports' Craig Calcaterra, who once complained that giant U.S. flags at baseball stadiums are "too political" and especially "too Republican":
"With the recent decision by MLB and the Indians to chuck Wahoo, there isn't even a fig leaf of deniability anymore. The league has admitted Wahoo is a racist logo yet still slaps 42 on it. Underscores how misguided it was to let it go one more year."
Blue Jays Moves joined in the assault on Wahoo, too:
"Fantastic. Now we don't need to see you wear this despicably-racist caricature on your sleeves on a day the game celebrates its inclusiveness. Do the right thing, and make this go away. Forever."
Most fans agree that the logo is not racist, but they're the "worst" sort of fans, writes Deadspin's Chris Thompson:
"This is the sort of disgraceful bind an organization works its way into when it offsets the progress of finally acknowledging the offensive nature of a team’s racist caricature logo by then continuing to sell merchandise featuring the racist caricature logo in order to appease the team’s very worst fans:
"Yes, that is a Chief Wahoo hat with a commemorative Jackie Robinson patch on the side. Perfect for the baseball fan who wants to celebrate the man who broke Major League Baseball’s shameful color barrier and Chief Wahoo, the racist and offensive depiction of a Native American long associated with the Cleveland Indians. And being sold in the same calendar year in which the Indians and Major League Baseball finally officially acknowledged the caricature’s obvious unsuitability as a team logo. Everyone associated with this should be fired."
A March 2018 poll by the Baldwin Wallace University Community Research Institute shows people in Northeast Ohio are calling Wahoo's critics out at home plate. A majority of respondents indicated they feel a strong positive emotional connection to this logo and it makes them proud of the Indians. Nonethless, it's now fair to speculate on whether or not MLB will go wobbly and give Chief Wahoo the heave-ho sooner rather than later.
