Just to clarify, hiring a bilingual manager would not to make some token affirmative action gesture, or to show favoritism for a racial or ethnic group, but rather, it would be to enhance communication. IBobby Valentine speaks some Japanese, that makes him a more viable candidate in Japan than otherwise. If Willie Randolph spoke some spanish, maybe he could have more of a presence with an under-performing Latin player.

Race has no place in judging anyone, either positively or negatively. A black man is not innately a good athlete simply because of the color of his skin; an oriental woman is not automatically smart because of the shape of her eyes.

Language and culture, too, have no bearing on a baseball manager’s abilities. The only thing that matters in this situation is baseball. What good is a Spanish-speaking manager if he has all the baseball savvy of Art Howe?

Color-blind hiring means hiring the best-qualified person for the job. Sometimes that means hiring the White Guy, like Bobby Valentine for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. Those using race or color as a “get out of jail free” should be ashamed.

By the way … how many of you readers knew from my writing that I’m an Oriental? Surprise.

Let’s Go Mets.

And for a team like Los Mets, how about bringing in a manager who is, like our city, bi-lingual, bi-cultural?

I don’t care if the manager is multi-lingual, multi-cutural, multi-gendered or whatever. He (or she) must win. Lots of soccer managers in Europe thrive managing teams of many languages and races and where the manager can barely speak to more than one or two players. The Irish soccer team has had three failed Irish managers in a row, following the success they had with an English manager. Recently they hired an Italian who barely speaks English to manage a team with no Italian speakers.

I’d prefer if the Mets kept Randolph, but I wouldn’t care if the Mets got Manny Acta, Felipe Alou, Phil Garner, Frank Robinson, Ken Oberkfell, or Hillary Clinton (you know they’d all run out the pop-ups with her on the bench). I want the team to win.

I do think that subconsciously many white Americans believe that white is the norm, white baseball players are the norm…the Ruths and Gehrigs and DiMaggios,and their contemporary versions…and they agree that it was the right move to open the doors to blacks, but why?, mostly because it upgraded the level of the game, bringing in the likes of Jackie Robinson, Campanella, Mays, Aaron, Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson. And similarly, the Latin Americans made their case between the foul lines too, with the excellence of Clemente, Carew, Aparicio, Marichal, so many more.

And so these players have been welcomed, generally so, but what about when the black or Latin player is just ordinary? For many the main logic to diversify racially was not the human rights argument, but that it brought in these fantastic players, enhanced the level of play, and particularly for one’s own team.

So when the black or Latin player under-performs, for some it is like, what, why did they bring this guy from Venezuela or Korea, not even speaking decent English, just to do this? We could give his spot to some earnest white kid struggling in the minors and put more emphasis on home-grown talent, the kids we need to develop for the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic, the ones that came up through our Little League and sandlot systems, the kids who might work best as role models for our own children…see what i mean? It is a bit of a double standard that African Americans and foreign born players may have to contend with, and white players not. And so black and Latin players probably have to deal with less tolerance of their slumps or failures or whatever. At least some of the time.

That said, Willie should, as you say, Steve, keep that card in the deck. He has had a great run, he has enjoyed organizational and fan support since arriving at Shea, but the gears have started to grind a bit, beginning the second half of last season. He has a team poised to make a move, capable of it, and they may need a more aggressive approach than he is providing.

As Eagle points out, managers arrive and inevitably depart. Those that fail to fulfill expectations tread on the thin ice, whatever their race or ethnicity.

If the team is floundering at mid-season, I say make a move. And for a team like Los Mets, how about bringing in a manager who is, like our city, bi-lingual, bi-cultural?

When, in 1975, Frank Robinson became Major League Baseball’s first African-American manager, with the Cleveland Indians, that was an important milestone. But an even more important one came two years later, when the Indians fired him. That was real equality: Losing one’s job is part of the job description of major-league managers, because sacking the manager is one of the few changes a floundering team can make immediately. So, in a sense, Robinson had not really arrived until he was told to leave. Then he was just like hundreds of managers before him.

There’s something to what Will’s writing there. I’m sure there are Met fans who don’t like the fact Randolph’s black, but I would bet there are a LOT MORE who don’t like the fact that (a) he’s an ex-Yankee (b) publicly non-committal and MOSTLY (c) not winning as much as they think the Mets should. That’s why Met fans are on Willie’s case. They want to win and they (many, not all Met fans) think Willie is NOT the man to lead them to victory.

If the Mets had won in 2006 or if the collapse had not happened we would not be having this discussion.

And to the point of Sunday night baseball, your schedule has 6/1 as a day game, but NOPE! ESPN just made it a Sunday night game. So, now we can all have another short night of sleep and have to listen to those guys. I really liked Morgan as a player, speed, power, defense…But he is not so good in the booth and Miller is nothing short of a bufoon.

That was an uncomfortable moment with Morgan last night. And Miller is like Forest Gump. They really make a game hard to watch.