Inside Conditions…
There is an old urban saying that goes something like this: “don’t hate the playa, hate the game.” Prior to Sunday past, I had been hearing the name of the Pirates second baseman Neil Walker, a “homeboy” favorite being tossed around almost as if he was supposed to be “automatic” in regards to making the NL All-Star team roster. I guess the selection of Pittsburgh Pirates “man for all seasons” super utility man Josh Harrison is just another example of “affirmative action” gone amuck.
Or wait, could it be that “confirmative action” was sucker punched without warning? See the definition of “affirmative action” at least according to Merriam-Webster.com is; “an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and also to promote the rights or progress of other disadvantaged persons.”
Well if any MLB club has a athlete that can play numerous defensive positions plus is an above average offensive player, then him making an All-Star team, any All-Star team in any sport should not be surprising, it should be expected.
The real surprise and travesty should have been if Josh Harrison wasn’t chosen to be an All-Star. By the way, Webster or any other dictionary does not even contain a definition for “confirmative action.” But wait, Aubrey the Great has defined it just for you, boys and girls. “Confirmative action” is; “when a particular race or creed is automatically chosen just because they represent that race or creed.”
Many sports scribes with possible a little crimson around the collar are openly saying that there is no way that Josh Harrison should have been chosen over Neil Walker. WPXI’s Bill Phillips said that Josh Harrison making the All-Star team “was a bit of a surprise.” I agree especially considering the fact that during the last two weeks, almost every single time that Andrew McCutchen’s name was mentioned as a potential NL All-Star, the name of Neil Walker was mentioned, simultaneously. Some of these guys seemed as if they were trying to “will” Walker onto the All-Star team.
Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that “Josh Harrison had the easy part. All he had to do was make the National League All-Star team as a utility man against overwhelming odds.” As far as I am concerned the odds for Walker making the squad were higher as was evidenced by him not being chosen. Cook went on to say that “Harrison’s amazing story just keeps getting better and better. It took this latest surreal twist when he was picked as a reserve for the National League team. He doesn’t have a regular position with the Pirates, but he will be at Target Field with baseball’s brightest stars, the Andrew McCutchens, Miguel Cabreras, Clayton Kershaws and Mike Trouts. Just like them, he will be known as an All-Star for eternity.”
Does this mean that Neil Walker will remember being snubbed for eternity? It would have really been “surreal” if Josh Harrison had not been chosen. The locals pushed and pushed and pushed Neil Walker right over the cliff. Walker missed valuable playing time when he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy and that hurt his chances to be selected as well, but you know what? Josh Harrison fought his way onto the NL 2014 squad and a lot of “haters” are coming out of the woodwork and unlike roaches they are not even scattering when the light comes on.
Josh Yoho from the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review said on the Final Word on last Sunday night that “[Harrison] didn’t necessarily deserve to make it.” Was Neil Walker supposed to be given a spot? If the Pirates want to maintain their winning ways they had better put a few more Gregory Polanco’s, Starling Marte’s and Josh Harrison’s in the starting lineup and keep them there. All-Stars cannot exist only in your dreams because as we all know when you wake up from a dream, the content of that dream usually disappears like the morning fog.
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741.)
