Jackie Robinson Day is an exercise in racial public relations. Baseball desperately wants to repair its connection to the black community, whose younger generation seems to regard the national pastime as only slightly more relevant than curling.
Chafets argues that Barry Bonds could help repair that connection, but because sportswriters (and MLB commissioner Bud Selig) dislike him so much, they continue to turn away black fans, who get sick of seeing Bonds attacked for the same things white players like Babe Ruth were adored for doing back in the day.
I hate Bonds as much as the next guy, but the racial double standard in baseball is certainly noticeable.
