From the El Birdos of the '60s to the Running Redbirds of the '80s, the Cardinals were once an institution that crossed lines of race, class, and creed. It seems as if this is no longer the case.
Jul 23, 2010 - A rookie has emerged to dominate the National League in a matter not seen in some time. As the records fall by his proverbial wayside, young Jaime Garcia, 23 months removed from Tommy John surgery, electrified the Cardinal faithful once again this sizzling July week, allowing one run over seven strong innings against the two-time defending league champions from Philadelphia.
Now 24 years old, new to both the national spotlight and the long grind of a 162-game schedule, he rebounded triumphantly from previous starts, which many thought illuminated the young Tex-Mex lefty hitting the rookie wall. Garcia will, next month, approach his plateau of innings pitched in his brief professional career, but he's done so with a sterling ERA of 2.21 over 110 innings [3.30 FIP, ERA+ of 184, 2.4 WAR ($9.5M value)].
He's good.
Here is my problem: The last time a Mexican rookie pitcher had these kind of numbers four months into the season (let alone two), his local Latino community had damn near knighted him. Granted, that was Fernando Valenzula, and he took not just Los Angeles but the entitre country by storm, but I honestly feel that by now the St. Louis Latino community should be having weekly parades down Cherokee Street in Kid Garcia's honor.
So where, in the burgeoning St. Louis Latino community, is the disconnect? Maybe I have been disillusioned by reading too many Roberto Clemente books this summer, and wish the bodegas still swung to the rhythm of Spanish speaking announcers calling ball games while men wearing awesome hats did whatever they damn-well needed to do, but has the Latino community in not just St. Louis, but most of America, stopped following American professional baseball the way the African-Amercian community stopped following a generation ago?
This is a headier subject for a better journalist than myself (paging The Riverfront Times!), but the racial demographics at Busch Stadium are an affront to the actual demographics of the city and region. The city, as of 2000, was 51.2 percent African-American and 43.85 percent Caucasian, but if you judged it from an afternoon at Busch, you would think the metro area is whiter than a Dave Coulier comedy special. The Latino and Asian aspects of the city may as well not be represented at all.
The common reason given for the disparity at Busch Stadium is that the cause isn't race but socio-economic conditions. That the poorer classes, often people of color in the region, have been priced out of the game and the experience. While I won't dispute that the exorbitant prices at Busch have kept many families away, I will say that the folks out in the bleachers aren't exactly the Rockefellers. There are still a lot of poor people spending their hard-earned money on the local nine. But why they are seemingly always white families, I don't know.
I have no answers here, and I realize this (race) is an unpopular subject for anyone to bring up, but it does make me wonder, as I look around Busch Stadium: Why are the only people of color I see the hired help in the stadium? When did the Cardinals go from being a civic institution of the city to an institution of the haves of St. Louis?
And more importantly ... why?
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It got worse
after Busch III opened. And while the city may be only 43% white, the metro area is much whiter.
Regression, bitches.
by spants on Jul 23, 2010 3:30 AM CDT reply actions
might be nice
to have a Spanish-language broadcast
Lick that shoulder—you're in the doghouse now.
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there..." - THT
by Yadi2Second on Jul 23, 2010 7:42 AM CDT reply actions
For weeks when Shannon is "on assignment"
(re: drinking) I would love that.
"In 2035, 25 young men will be able to call themselves world champions. Some of those guys haven’t even been born yet. And some of them are Asian." -Mike Shannon
by Alex Fritz on Jul 23, 2010 11:42 PM CDT up reply actions
This must be one of the most epic benders of all-time.
You're the fail to my win?
"There is not a better feeling in the whole world than knowing that you are the best team in both leagues."- Bob Forsch on winning the 1982 World Series.
by MaytheForschbewithyou on Jul 26, 2010 12:39 PM CDT up reply actions
reading too much into this
You are whimsicaly referencing a time when people celebrated when one of “there own” did something great like Valenzuela. Remember though that the 60s and 70s were a time of greater racial unrest than today. I find it great that people don’t identify or celebrate a payer because of his race. Isn’t that the point. To treat everyone equally and root for players you ike or boo players you don’t like for every reason but race?
Should a young hispanic kid in st. Louis love zambrano because he’s hispanic? I think its great that so many people have movedast identifying with race first in terms of baseball at least. Here in AZ we have white, black, and hispanic fans rooting for Upton, Drew, and Parra. Why? Because baseball had its watershed moment with jackie robinson that showed us that race doesn’t matter on the field, but talent. There are stil racist players, fans, writers, but if you look for racial issues where there aren’t necessarily probems, you can find them anywhere.
Its a silly question of why minorities as a community aren’t going to games because the decision to go to a game is an individual one. Come to AZ if you want to see fan diversity because you’ll see white, black, and hispanic fans all right next to each other, hi-fiving when things are going good and comisserating when they are going bad.
I'm the Albert Belle of Golf...
by RDCardsfan on Jul 23, 2010 12:14 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
the west coast
has no idea of the racial tension one feels blanketing a city like st. louis. i know that, ideally, all peoples of all races and creeds should enjoy sporting events together and judge their fellow drunken asshole by the content of their character and not what colorful language they hurl at the players on the field. and in diverse, free-thinking cities dotting the pacific side of our country, it works. it’s one of the first things i noticed as a resident of seattle – diversity is encouraged, yet commerce has not ceased to exist and god has not struck us down in a fit of rage.
however, the unfortunate reality of many large midwestern cities rife with urban decay is that racial tension is very real. i hate to say it, but no amount of “come on meee-an, we’re all, like, individuals and we should respect each other’s right to groove to their own beat” is going to change it. why? is it the socio-economics of cities like detroit, gary, columbus, etc.? closed-mindedness of the lesser-educated midwest? stubbornness? mind-control? it may be a mixture of all or none of these. it’s a question some in st. louis have been trying to answer for some time while others awkwardly dodge.
whatever the answer is, it isn’t “you guys just need to stop being so unreasonable”. give the stl a little respect, it’s not easy to navigate these issues especially when you’re immersed in the middle of them. unless you’re willing to uproot from the state housing bill bidwell’s abomination of a franchise and move to the corner of compton & grand, stop lecturing people on the front line of these horrible issues.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jul 23, 2010 8:40 PM CDT up reply actions
I may be looking too deeply into matters of no concern, I readilly admit.
But I think there is a real issue here which has been ignored by the mainstream Saint Louis press for a very long time.
This city is as close to segregated — if not racially in all parts then at least economically in most — as a city legally can be, but nobody has the cojones to mention it becuase they might be labeled a racist. When it came to the Cardinals, this didn’t used to be the case, but it is now. Pretending the issue doesn’t exist hasn’t worked in the city for the last forty years, so maybe these things should be brought out into the open.
Yes, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t notice where a player was from or what kind of an accent he has. But, this is the real world, where the Cardinals org and their advertisers themsleves plays up where players are from if it fits their convenience. Why else is David Freese on the cover of their mag and the new star of Sonic commercials? Because he is from here.
"In 2035, 25 young men will be able to call themselves world champions. Some of those guys haven’t even been born yet. And some of them are Asian." -Mike Shannon
by Alex Fritz on Jul 23, 2010 11:41 PM CDT up reply actions
are you sure it isn't because of his on-screen chemistry with ricky horton?
by Dan Moore on Jul 24, 2010 1:54 AM CDT up reply actions
You'd be amazed how much it's everywhere.
I live in Austin, TX which is supposedly one of the most progressive cities in the country. Yet the segregation is even more severe than it is in StL. People don’t even deign to cross into the part of the city where they don’t “belong,” while at home you’d at least see people sharing grocery stores and things. I actually thought for a year that Austin had no black population. (though I admit that things may have gotten worse as far as segregation back home. I haven’t lived in St. Louis since 2001).
They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...
by Valatan on Jul 24, 2010 11:31 PM CDT up reply actions
Can you
even move to the “corner of compton & grand?” Aren’t they both north/south streets?
by goodymobb on Jul 26, 2010 9:32 AM CDT up reply actions
Wow I can see why you have a problem
I just give an example and claim you may be looking too hard to find a problem that’s just a demographics issue (perhaps african americans are going to games less just like caucasians are going to basketball games less) and I’m told to stop “lecturing” those with on the “front lines.” There’s your problem. Over the top hyperbole. I was born and raised in Cleveland, which is much more like St. Louis than Phoenix, and It’s still not “horrible” but if that’s the best way to describe it, then go ahead. Funny thing is that it’s worse in these supposedly progressive minded urban areas. I’ve lived all over with my father in the military and the best places for racial harmony I’ve lived? Mississippi near the military base in Biloxi, and here in AZ. I don’t know why the Midwest seems worse, but it isn’t just local history, because Mississippi has a horrible racial history, yet people seem to get along better there than in the more progressive northeast. Maybe a sociologist can comment, but either way, I don’t think baseball needs to be tainted by sociological problems any more than it already is. A lot of us in AZ are frustrated because they want to drag baseball into immigration issues, I just don’t want the same thing done with race more than it needs to be. But I’ll quit lecturing you grizzled midwest race war veterans.
I'm the Albert Belle of Golf...
by RDCardsfan on Jul 27, 2010 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Or to be more accurate...
The St. Louis Metropolitan area (not just the St. Louis City which is a very small part of it, it’s ridiculous to cherry pick the data like that) is 79% White, 19% Black, and 2% Asian.
And as for Hispanic, it’s 2%
http://www.stlrcga.org/x1832.xml
Now compare that to say, Los Angeles, where Hispanics make up half the city (source the Wikipedia entry for the city).
Hmmm, 48% vs 2%. My goodness, what a mystery.
by DiscoJer on Jul 25, 2010 3:35 AM CDT reply actions
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