Dusty Baker Was Right

Here's some worthwhile followup on the comments Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker made about race and the ability to withstand the heat.

Well, it turns out that Baker was right, just not for the reasons many assume. As Jon Entine, author of Taboo: Why Blacks Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It says today over at Opinion Journal:

Mr. Baker's observations are common sense. Does anyone really think an Eskimo would perform as well in Wrigley Field in July as someone of African ancestry who has spent all but a speck of his evolutionary history along the equator? "The single most important factor in heat toleration is body proportions," says David Brown, a University of Hawaii anthropologist and morphology expert. "If the relative fitness levels are similar, those with more skin surface area to overall body mass--those with relatively longer limbs--are more heat efficient. It's easier to sweat, dissipate heat and keep core body temperature steady." Check that anthropology textbook: Africans have longer limbs and more skin surface area than whites, who have more than Asians. Stout-and-short Eskimos, who are of Asian ancestry, don't perform as efficiently in scorching weather as whites or blacks. Is it racist to acknowledge this?

Nota bene: the anthropological differences that enable Blacks to better withstand heat have nothing to do with skin color.

How about that?

Entine has some other interesting things to say about how some in the media are trying to use this to gain some sort of political advantage:

Last week, I had the unfortunate experience of appearing on the Fox News right-left slugfest "Hannity and Colmes." Sean Hannity appeared delighted at Mr. Baker's apparent faux pas because it gave him an opportunity to bash liberals for what some conservatives see as a double standard--blacks get free passes for social missteps that often cost whites their jobs.

Of course there is a double standard. Shortly before CBS liquidated Snyder, Dallas Cowboy All-Star Calvin Hill, a Yale University graduate, remarked that "on the plantation, a strong black man was mated with a strong black woman. [Blacks] were simply bred for physical qualities." That remark created no stir--until repeated almost verbatim by Snyder.

Mr. Hannity's obsession to even the score prompted him to bizarrely proclaim that Mr. Baker should apologize for his "silly remarks." But the cure for double standards is not to compound them by sacrificing yet another innocent to ideological correctness.

Which is exactly the point I made last week when this story first broke. At this point, it looks like Baker is home free. The next job is to make sure that the next innocent bystander doesn't get handled so roughly.

Eric 04:36 PM

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