Scorecard

A Different Race for Sir Roger

Last week, in a wide-ranging address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sir Roger Bannister, the world's first four-minute miler and a respected neurologist, caused a stir with his talk of racial differences in athletic performance. He said: "I am prepared to risk political incorrectness by drawing attention to the seemingly obvious but understressed fact that black sprinters, and black athletes in general, all seem to have certain natural anatomical advantages." Among the possible advantages Bannister cited were the black athletes' "relative lack of subcutaneous fatty insulating tissue in the skin" and "the length of the Achilles tendon."

While the specific anatomical merits of Bannister's theory are better left to scientific debate, he has at least lent a thoughtful voice to what has been a taboo topic since Al Campanis's infamous 1987 suggestion that blacks lack the "necessities" to succeed as baseball executives and Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder's besotted ramblings in 1988. The essence of what Bannister said is not inherently racist. It would not, for instance, be prejudicial to note that blacks tend to have different hair and lip structure than Asians, or that Asians, on average, are smaller than Caucasians.

Bannister's one failure may have been in not stressing enough the important point that anatomy doesn't tell all. In sport, as in other parts of life, social, economic and environmental conditions all contribute to overall differences. The fact that 82% of NBA players are black and 99% of NHLers are white stems in part from obvious realities: U.S. blacks who live predominately in inner cities and who earn relatively low wages are more likely to play basketball, while Canadians and others in nonurban cold-weather regions play hockey.

The "physical advantages" Bannister posits could have less impact than educational and financial opportunities, or even simple geographical factors, the last of which Bannister acknowledged in his talk by citing high altitude as a training benefit.

Bannister showed gumption by introducing an anatomical theory to explain the seemingly high number of athletically successful blacks. It would be racist for him—or anyone—to use the hypothesis to suggest that athletes be treated differently on the basis of race. But Bannister didn't suggest that. He just gave us something worth thinking about.

Baseball's Subtle Prejudice

Here's something else to think about: Though the Racial Report Card presented by Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society last week gave baseball an A for its rate of hiring minority coaches, it did not address a seemingly petty but ultimately telling issue—why are there so few black and Hispanic third base coaches? Of the 18 minorities on big league baselines, 14 coach first.

"I think it's a matter of teams not having confidence in [blacks] to coach third base," says Baltimore Oriole assistant general manager Frank Robinson. "They'll put you at first base, put you in the bullpen, occasionally make you the pitching coach. But that's it."

It should be obvious that neither baseline coach need be a theoretical mathematician. But in the baseball world, the third base job is generally regarded as the more demanding of the two. It requires a savvy "thinking man" who must assess defenses and evaluate game situations instantaneously in guiding runners once they pass first base. More than that, the third base coach is the manager's conduit, relaying instructions to batters and runners. Typically, first base coaches are far less involved in the game, and that's where most teams put their on-field minority coaches.