MLB posted a graphic celebrating Black History Month with a collage of great black American baseball players (and Derek Jeter.*)

It was basically fine, other than the confusing centre piece, but the omissions were problematic. Namely:

So, I made one.

Starting from the top left:

First Row: Barry Bonds; Larry Doby; Dave Parker; Joe Carter; Ferguson Jenkins ; Derek Jeter; Ken Griffey Jr.

Second row: Ozzie Smith; Rube Foster ; Jackie Robinson; Cool Papa Bell ; Lou Brock; Curt Flood.

Third row: Jim Rice; Ernie Banks ; Josh Gibson; Frank Thomas; Willie Mays.

Fourth row: Joe Morgan; Cito Gaston ; Roy Campanella ; Henry Aaron ; Dave Winfield ; Tony Gwynn; Bob Gibson.

Fifth row: Lou Whitaker; Andrew McCutchen; Frank Robinson; Oscar Charleston; Reggie Jackson; Dusty Baker.

Sixth row: Willie McCovery; Tim Anderson ; Satchel Paige ; Mookie Betts; Eddie Murray; David Price; Rickey Henderson; CC Sabathia.

There at one point, but somehow disappeared:

Willie Stargell, Don Newcombe, Barry Larkin and this guy:

Yes, Buck O’Neill is laughing at me.

Not included at all, black Latinos. That’s another graphic.

I did this picture because I felt the MLB one didn’t really capture the true history of black baseball and how African American players have truly shaped this game.

I started with Jackie Robinson and built out from there, going both backwards with Negro League players (Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Rube Foster, who started the Negro Leagues) and forwards to his direct baseball descendants: Doby, Mays, Robinson, Banks, Campanella and Hank Aaron.

Hank Aaron is closest to Jackie because Aaron pushed what Jackie started to the next level by dethroning Babe Ruth as home run king. A black player overtaking a record held by the most celebrated white player in the history of baseball was a significant declaration about the sea change that had taken place over the previous two decades.

After that, I just looked at “best players of this decade” lists and started playing around. In the Hall of Fame and won the World Series and/or MVP pretty much guaranteed a spot. Or if I felt they either should be in the Hall of Fame and weren’t, or they had a significant impact on the culture of baseball, they got in.

Curt Flood is both of those things and it’s one of the reasons it was so completely egregious that he wasn’t on the original graphic. Free agency has dominated every conversation about baseball, and sports in general, since the 70s and you can draw a line directly to Flood v. Kuhn.

Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. are the defining players of the 90s, so they are on opposite top corners. Griffey was actually on the other corner at one point, but it looked like he was trying to lick Larry Doby’s ear and it’s not that kind of collage. The 90s are obviously key for me because that is when I first started watching baseball and my team won the World Series. Twice.

Joe Carter and Ferguson Jenkins are grouped together because of Canada. Reggie Jackson stands with CC because they are both Yankees. So is Dave Winfield, but I put him in a Padres uniform because that was a hell of a lot of pinstripes. I tucked Tony Gwynn in with his fellow Padre, but it was a chore to find a picture of Gwynn without the bulge of chew in his face that eventually killed him.

I chose that picture of CIto Gaston because it was Cito at his most Cito. The white panel hat, the satin jacket, the ‘stache. That is a man who is going to steal your signs and laugh about it while his players circle the bases. Also, can MLB just start giving that man some respect already?

I included the picture of Ozzie Smith doing a back flip for the same reason I chose the picture of Griffey with his hat on backwards, and a picture of Dave Parker at all (even though Parker should, in my opinion, be in the Hall of Fame): style and iconic swagger.

Speaking of Hall of Fame style and iconic swagger, the other egregious player left off the MLB graphic was Rickey Henderson.

I wanted an action shot, and I liked the one I chose because it showed what a specimen he was (his legs look fantastic), despite the fact that he is clearly scampering back to first.

It does, however, look like Satchel Paige is looking Rickey back to first. This was not on purpose and I only just noticed it after I had finished.

One of the many things that are remarkable about this history is how the lines can be so clearly drawn through the different eras. I’m always fascinated at how close these players feel, even though decades separate them. And maybe that happy little accident with Henderson and Paige was a subconscious nod to that.

I posted the graphic on Twitter and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. There was a guy, in a now deleted tweet, who wanted to know how I could be disappointed by something that wasn’t directed at me.

It didn’t upset me but I did think about it for a bit. And I realized that that MLB graphic wasn’t actually aimed at black Americans, even though it featured black Americans. It was aimed at the wider baseball fandom. And by wider, I mean whiter.

If MLB wants to educate the wider baseball community, they should probably think about what they are actually saying and what they are trying to achieve.

But that, of course, is a big “if”.

*I am totally just kidding. I have no issue with Derek Jeter. I just don’t know why he is in the centre of the MLB graphic. Congrats on the HOF thing, though. In the words of Rochester ladies with permed bangs from 25 years ago who used to sit on the 200 level at the Rogers Centre when the Yankees were in town circa 2005, “I love you, Derek Jeetah.”

Also,

Today’s Walkup