I don't know if it was the conspiracy he was talking about yesterday, but Gary Sheffield did tell GQ all about his thoughts on why there are dwindling numbers of African-Americans in Major League Baseball.
"I called it years ago. What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out. ... [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them," he told the magazine.
"Where I'm from, you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that's a person that you're going to talk to with respect, you're going to talk to like a man.
"These are the things my race demands. So, if you're equally good as this Latin player, guess who's going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys."
I don't believe that the front offices of Major League Baseball are above trying to take advantage of anyone, but at the same time, the notion that all Latin ballplayers are pushovers ... well, teammate Carlos Guillen might disagree. Anyway, I hope Major League Baseball keeps pissing Sheffield off ... at this rate, sometime in June he'll be accusing Bud Selig of murdering Anna Nicole Smith.
Gary Sheffield's Got A Theory [Signal to Noise]
Sheffield has theory why fewer blacks play MLB [ABC13]
Gary Sheffield Will Rip The Lid Off Of It [Deadspin]