Deadspin
Whenever Dave Winfield and Bud Selig come together to cook up an idea, you know it's going to be good. Reportedly it was the two of them who came up with this one: a ceremonial draft of Negro League veterans by all of the Major League teams, to be held next month. Expect the Nationals to actually insert one or two of their picks into the starting lineup.
Under the initiative, teams will "draft" surviving Negro League players. The individuals selected will represent all the black ballplayers that were denied a chance to play in the Majors because of their skin color. Major League Baseball will preassign draft selections, based in part on any requests teams might have. Each team will compensate the player it selects with a stipend. Major League Baseball will pick up the travel expenses for each player (and a companion) to the Draft headquarters in Orlando.
In 1997, Major League Baseball awarded $1,000-per-month pensions and medical benefits to many black players who did not get an opportunity to play in the Majors. I'm not sure how this new initiative affects that, but I do know that as the percentage of black players in the league continues to drop, MLB is looking for creative PR solutions to help plug the leak.
My question: How will the draft order be decided? I think it should go by the year that the team became integrated. So the Dodgers would get the first pick, and the Red Sox would choose last (and then trade that player the following season). In any event, you can watch the draft live at BaseballChannel.TV at 1 p.m. ET, with the 2008 First-Year Player Draft at 2 p.m.
MLB To 'Draft' Negro Leaguers [MLB.com]
Comments
Last would be Arizona or Tampa, actually. But Boston would be last of teams founded prior to 1962.
DRAFT ODEN
So will Greg Oden continue with his basketball career or will he be happy now that he is being vindicated?
/get it? He's old!
we freed you. so, ya know...you're welcome
~Stewie'd
@Camp Tiger Claw: AHHHH FUCK!
Holy fucking pandering. Too little, too late, baseball.
The best part is, these players STILL won't be allowed to play in the major leagues.
Didn't Dave Chapelle already do this?
Negro League players? I don't think they like that terminology anymore.
/I don't think we should be talking about this
What's the name of the team paying Barry Zito $126 million, Rick?
Can we trade Tim McCarver for an extra black player?
Moises Alou demands eligibility.
Ty Cobb must be pistol-whipping someone in his grave right now.
"Nice timing, assholes."
- Buck Henry
How about doing something that isn't so, you know, stupid, like funding and promoting the Negro League Museum in Kansan City. I think something involving it and the living ex-players would be a little more sensible.
[www.nlbm.com]
@Gourmet Spud:
That's right. Former SNL host Buck Henry is enraged, on behalf of Buck O'Neil.
I knew Julio Franco wasn't really retired.
Awful.
The Red Sox would like to trade all of their ceremonial draft picks for a scrappy white infielder.
Martin Lawrence is expected to go #4
One day, the LPGA will do the same thing for straight women.
@Gourmet Spud: Leave Buck Owens and the Buckaroos out of this!!
-- Buck Rodgers
... but the Astros already have their token black player (Bourn)!
Nice work, Selig. Nothing atones for decades of mistreatment and discrimination like a fake draft of dead players. Heartwarming.
Exxtreme Baseball Reparations 2K8 sponsored by Doritos
Please let Mel Kiper be involved in the draft.
I don't know how, but Hillary will find a way to use this Negro League draft to prove she deserves the nomination.
Who will be the Mel Kiper Jr of the 2008 cermonial Negro League MLB draft?
What was the quote from the Whitlock post again?
If you don't intend to be racist, that is what makes it racist?
@grungedave: & Cecil Cooper!
A black manager counts for at least two black players, too.
@formerly Chief Wahoo: The NLBM is really the only reason ever to go to KC. It also makes the trip worthwhile.
@EddieRebel: Chuck Connors.
Gary Sheffield agrees with this idea, as long as they're not drafting those Hispanics who are easily manipulated.
"Major League Baseball will pick up the travel expenses for each player (and a companion) to the Draft headquarters in Orlando."
Now there's a great basball town with a lot of traditiion.
So....are we cool?
God bless Major League Baseball? No, no God damn Major League Baseball!
/Wright'ed
@LeNoceur: Not the barbecue, or the jazz? Must be a white vegan, huh?
Kadir Nelson is very photogenic.
Approve!
-D. LeBatard
@shea_guevara: what do you mean, she won the tie-breaker state.
/ guy who spoke over the first 20 seconds of her speech last night, and only heard that she won the tiebreaker.
Dottie Henson and Kit Keller would like to know when they can expect their draft.
stipend?
Is this the first step towards reparations?
KSK mock drafts are far more entertaining.
Coincidence that it'll be the shortest draft of the year?
artist's rendition of the proposed draft:
I bet Rick Peterson will claim he could fix Satchel Paige.
serious question: If a team drafts a Negro League Hall of Famer, will they retire their number or something? I'm confused by this whole thing
@Brazil Thrill's Shot Was Blocked By KG: Nobody will be drafting Martin Dihigo, then?
Jodanse, putos!
I thought you'd at least wait to post this up until after we could check out a mock draft or two via "Blogdome."
Bus companies and lunch counters don't like where this is going
Meanwhile, each MLB team will also get to draft some teenage Cuban kid floating on a raft towards Key West.
@josereyes.theroof wishes to perform Tim Harris's sack-dance...: I actually prefer my BBQ in Memphis and my jazz in New Orleans but that doesn't mean I'm turning either down when In KC.
Keanu Reeves has been drafted as honorary manager/deadbeat who's eyes are opened by the struggles of the less fortunate, guy.
@The Fan's Attic: You're the SEROLF DIVAD of Deadspin, huh?
@The Fan's Attic: the tall one's got a cannon fer an arm!
This is exactly what the old black ballplayers need. An event where rich white guys sit around examining their "particulars" and then bid on their services.
Will Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest be eligible for this draft?
That is going to be one awkward combine.
MLB To 'Draft' Negro League Veterans; Mets To Overpay The Pitchers As Usual
That's silly. Everybody knows the Mets are a Hispanic organization.
Bud Black is white
Frank White is black
/irony
@formerly Chief Wahoo: KC BBQ is fine by me. Any town where the airport can offer better barbecue than I have ever had elsewhere really cannot be topped.
@MattMillenFanClub: Vida Blue? Not a choking victim.