2018 World Series: Revelations of Truth That Must be Acknowledged

Los Angeles

In life many often arrive at conclusions based on what we see with our eyes while ignoring what the heart and spirit attempts to reveal. Truth often resides beyond what we see.

As a journalist covering the World Series I am acutely aware of what many of the story lines will be. Can Clayton Kershaw win a meaningful game and improve upon his 9-9 post season record?

Will the Boston Red Sox win another World Series and lay claim as being a legitimate dynasty over the last 15-years?

Will the Los Angeles Dodgers, after a 30-year hiatus from winning it all, finally lay claim to another World Series Crown to avenge last year’s loss to the Houston Astros?

While the latter are all noteworthy topics for discussion one can reasonably conclude other topics are worthy of note.

In life we often arrive at conclusions based on what we see with our eyes while ignoring what the heart and spirit attempts to reveal. Truth often resides beyond what we see.

My eyes see Dave Roberts, who manages the Los Angeles Dodgers and Alex Cora, who manages the Boston Red Sox as the first managers of color to face off with a World Series crown on the line.

Cito Gaston was the first African-American to win a World Series crown as a manager and did so in successive years in 1992-1993.

Dusty Baker became the second African-American manager to lead a team to the World Series but came up short in 2002 as the skipper of the San Francisco Giants in losing a Game 7 to the Anaheim Angels.

When Dave Roberts was named manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers three years ago he made history in becoming the first man of color to lead the storied franchise. It’s also the same franchise where the great Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player to integrate Major League Baseball in 1947.

When hired Roberts issued the following:

“This is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. The Dodgers are the ground-breaking franchise of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Fernando Valenzuela and Hideo Nomo. When I put on this uniform as a player, I understood the special responsibility to honor those that played before me as well as the amazing bond between the Dodgers and their fans. I feel that I have now come full circle in my career and there is plenty of unfinished business left in L.A.”

In Roberts’ first three seasons he has led his team to the playoffs with the last two culminating in World Series berths.

Cora, who is Puerto Rican born, just completed his first year as the Red Sox skipper. He led his squad to a league best 108-54 record. There is a strong possibility Cora can be a world champion in his first year at the helm.

Like Roberts before him, Cora became the first man of color to manage a Red Sox team.

A reasonable question to ask is why hasn’t mainstream media made light of Roberts and Cora’s success as men of color leading teams?

The sad truth is this; to shed led on their accomplishments the media would also have to discuss the sad history of Major League Baseball being a game that’s in dire need of diversity.

October 15, 1972 Jackie Robinson famously said the following before Game 2 of the World Series: 

“I am extremely proud and pleased to be here this afternoon but must admit, I am going to be tremendously more proud when I look at the third-base coaching line one day and see a black face managing baseball.”

If Robinson were alive today he would be overjoyed to see both Cora and Roberts managing in the World Series. However, Robinson would be appalled to know that of the 470 managerial openings since Robinson spoke in 1972 just 16 of those jobs went to African-Americans.

Matter of fact, on the field as players just 7.8 percent of the league is comprised of African-Americans.

Mass media tends to ignore said facts because the truth does not sell but agendas do. The score of the game, who played well and who wins takes precedence over the intricacies of class, race and the lack of diversity in media and otherwise.

Believe it or not there is a method to the madness and it’s simply this: those who control the media control the narrative.

For example, with specific regards to history, many still celebrate fabricated holidays like Columbus Day as if he discovered America when the truth reveals Africans and Native Americans occupied this land first and Columbus never discovered anything. The plan is to suppress the truth, control the narrative and ignore the facts to avert rewriting history.

We live in a society where humans of color are being killed by law enforcement with few being brought to justice yet the mainstream media largely opts to suppress said facts. Again, the plan is to suppress the truth, control the narrative and ignore the facts to keep from critically addressing the paramount issues.

We have a President of the United States whose father was a devout racist and member of the KKK. As POTUS Trump has displayed the apple did not fall far from the tree stemming from his plethora of his bigoted and sexist acts yet, true to form, the plan is to suppress the truth, control the narrative and ignore the facts to divert our collective attention elsewhere.

The solution?

Diversity.

If the media, mainstream and sports, was more diverse then harmonic solutions would triumph over bigotry, lies and fabricated narratives.

According to a report issued by The Diversity andEthics in Sports (TIDES) the majority of what’s disseminated in sports media comes from a white male vantage point. For instance, 85 percent of the sports editors, 76.4 percent of the assistant sports editors, 80.3 percent of the columnists, 82.1 percent of the reporters, and 77.7 percent of the copy editors/designers are white.

If sports media were more diverse with men and women of color we can have a wide array of discussions from vantage points that are both lacking and needed. The latter only makes sense if the agenda is to inform, awaken and educate which it clearly is not. 

Again, the mainstreams aggregate agenda is to suppress the truth, control the narrative and ignore the facts.

Sorry but that's not how I roll.

I can't ignore the fact two men of color are making history at the World Series and the mainstream ignores it.

I cannot ignore the fact that mainstream and sports media need to diversify.

Again, in my life I arrive at conclusions based on what I see with my eyes and feel in my heart because the truth often resides beyond what is seen.

Email Dexter directly at drttcd@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DextersVpoint