When thinking about baseball, thoughts come to mind of America's oldest sport. You begin to think about the history of the players, the stadiums, the scenery, and the moments forever etched in the history books. What makes baseball so great is that it existed alongside some of the most important moments in American history. Players halted their careers to fight in the war, presidents were still throwing out first pitches going all the way back to William Howard Taft, and African American players were finally allowed to play in the big leagues.

That said, is baseball still a "white man's sport?"

A new article brings some perspective to baseball's present racism

Recently, Yahoo! Sports writer Jeff Passan wrote an article that included his arguments that baseball is still a "white man's sport." HIs points mostly centered around Atlanta Braves announcer and former player Joe Simpson. Simpson has been involved in a couple of controversies due to his on-air comments usually about the Braves' opponents.

Back on August 7 when the Braves were in Washington to play the Nationals in a doubleheader, Simpson, during the first inning of the first game suggested that he was not totally convinced that Nationals' rookie Juan Soto was 19 years old. "If he is 19, he has certainly got his man growth," Simpson said.

In his article, Jeff Passan was quick to call Simpson out. "Because, you see, other Dominican players have lied about their age, so obviously Soto, who is really good, and who, Simpson would go on to say, has 'man growth,' must be doing it, too," Passan wrote.

Passan's point made here is that Simpson is stuck on the idea that because Dominican players have been caught lying about their age in the past, he questions those who come from the same background today.

During the first inning of the second game, Simpson attempted to clarify his comments about Soto by saying, "If you were with us in Game 1, you might have heard me make a comment off the top of my head about if he is 19," Simpson said and continued, "Well, he is.

He is a bona fide 19. And a full-grown man."

Continuing on his on-air statement, he said that the league should just give him the Rookie of the Year award right now. Simpson said his initial comments were a compliment to Soto.

Simpson's other controversy

During a game on July 28 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Sun Trust Park in Atlanta, Simpson went after the Dodgers' players for wearing t-shirts during batting practice. Simpson felt it was disrespectful to the fans. "I want you to look at some things that were going on today in batting practice here with the Dodgers. What do you see? T-shirts," Simpson said.

He pointed out Chase Utley's attire, which included a shirt that was raising awareness for cancer prevention specifically, before calling out the entire team and pouring sympathy for the traveling Dodger fans.

"And I think about fans that come to SunTrust Park who are Dodgers fans and want to see their players. They had no idea who any of them were."

Fans could probably tell who Chase Utley is during batting practice, and if they cannot, they're probably waiting for a baseball to come their way anyhow. If Simpson, who has been calling Atlanta Braves' games for over 25 years, really call's things from the top of his head, he's saying a lot now.
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