Gary Ashwill has posted a nice little essay regarding the mission of today’s Negro League researcher. Here’s a small excerpt:
“This pretty much presents, in a nutshell, the conventional wisdom that all our research is dedicated to overthrowing—the notion that the Negro Leagues exist in some hazy netherworld of unverifiable myth, tall tales, gut feelings, subjective judgments. There is, in fact, a vast body of quite verifiable fact and analyzable data waiting for us, locked away in crumbling newspaper files and microfilm spools and old records.”
Please check out the entire piece, as well as a thoughtful comment by fellow Negro League historian Patrick Rock.
3 Comments
February 24, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Scott, I referred to Poz as being a horse’s patootie in this particular incident; just how “thoughtful” was that?
Seriously, it’s not the first time I’ve seen Posnanski dismiss someone because he’d never heard of them, so this cannot be dismissed as tongue-in-cheek humor. Poz is brighter and a better writer than that, and he does a grave disservice to SABR and to baseball researchers when he displays and celebrates ignorance in that way.
We compartmentalize Baseball research into eras and categories for a number of reasons, none of which is to discount the importance of any other area. Joe Posnanski should know better, and if he doesn’t, he should take the time to learn.
February 24, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Scott, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?
March 1, 2009 at 6:20 pm
In the middle searching old friends, found your website.Just passing by.By the way, your website have great content!
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