It’s Inconceivable

The Tribune’s David Haugh presents this…interesting take on last week’s story about Dusty Baker’s racist hate mail:

When Dusty Baker essentially opened his racist hate mail to America by sharing details of several letters with a USA Today reporter this week, critics questioning Baker's tactics out of habit wondered if this was part of his exit strategy.

It suggested to some that Baker was just lining up excuses in case the Cubs do not offer him a contract, especially when he said he was "sorry it even came out."

Why else risk creating the perception nationally that Cubs fans had become more intolerant about their manager's skin color than impatient about their team's futility?

Why raise suspicion about every Bleacher Bum who walks into Wrigley Field being a bigot?Why not just realize that a few kooks hardly speak for an entire fan base and a $4 million salary buys a measure of discretion when dealing with matters so potentially explosive?

The bit struck me as condescending. Haugh…errrr…I mean, the nameless “critics” Haugh cites ponder Baker’s ulterior motives for even talking about the racist mail he gets. After all, the dude makes $4 million a year. Doesn’t he realize that if you make that much money you’re supposed to shut your pie hole, sing a happy tune, and not talk about stuff like that?

We’re a rather innocuous little blog here. We talk about baseball, not deep sociological issues facing our world. But how can Haugh and his “critics” can be so shocked that there are still racist jackasses in the world after seeing this guy all over the news? Or do their salaries buy enough discretion to ignore such unpleasantness?