The Race Card

Gary Sheffield played with the Yankee organization from 2004-2006 before he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. He finalized a three-year contract with New York for 39-million dollars on December 17, 2003. Yet after being traded to the Detroit Tigers Gary Sheffield stated that Joe Torre treats black players differently from white players in the yankee clubhouse. Gary Sheffield said that Torre would treat his white players like men when he had an issue with them and call them into his office but with his black players, including Kenny Lofton and Tony Womack, he would call them out in front of the team in ways that seemed unneccessary. Gary also stated that "He (Joe Torre) had a message to get across to the whole team, so he used me to get the message across." I believe Gary was treated like ever other player on the Yankee organization and that is as a player whether black or white. Gary has been know before for his sharp word and this may just be another one of his outrageous statements. It also seems to be a real coincidence that Gary just started talking about Torre and his views towards blacks once he was traded to Detroit Tigers. With regards to Derek Jeter on the Yankees, since he is a great player who is also black, Gary said that "Derek is black and white", because Jeter is from a mixed-race family, so he is in Gary's eyes treated differently from an "all the way black" man. Gary Sheffield is a very outspoken person and whether this is true or not i believe Gary Sheffield was treated like ever other player on the Yankees and i don't believe Joe Torre is a man who would treat players differently because of there race. Joe Torre has been in the game of baseball for many years and is respected highly in the MLB. Why should he be critized by another player on the way he runs his team in the first place?