Mets Chat: Lo Duca calls out Latin teammates Edition
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- June
- 29
There’s no denying the Mets have a heavy Latin presence. But, is it too heavy?
Paul Lo Duca called out the Mets Latin players tonight. He was in a cranky mood to begin with when asked about his suspension appeal.
He wasn’t in a talking mood, but opened up.
“I’ll do this, but you need to start talking to other players,” Lo Duca told reporters in a loud enough voice for others to hear. “It’s the same three or four people every day. Nobody else wants to talk. … Some of these guys have got to start talking.
They speak English, believe me.”
That’s not a throw away line, and it isn’t something that’s going to disappear. Is there trouble with Team Harmony?
This entry was posted
on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 12:34 am by John Delcos.
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I don’t thinks it is about team harmony.
I am so tired of reading cliche ridden comments by Wright.
We have so few America born players on the team that jounalists just get the easy way out .
Isn’t it a job of jounalists to get comments from the players? I don’t blame Loduca.Jounalists should try harder to get comments from latin players.
Being a Spanish-speaker and a journalist by trade, I must ask: Why don’t more native English-speaking reporters learn to speak Spanish, being that the demographics are so rapidly changing in MLB? It would earn them more sources and open the possibilities open to more good stories.
CJ, the journalists do try to get comments from all the players. But when a player says “no comment,” what are they going to do? Tie them down and use water torture till they get a usable quote?
Beltran always seems open, but then that’s just an impression I get. I could be wrong. The problem is, no matter what he says, some fans jump all over him. They try to read all these hidden meanings into his words. So players like Beltran can’t win no matter what they do.
I don’t think what Loduca said will be a major problem. Apparently he just has a really bad temper and was pissed at all the questions he was getting about his on field tirade last week and the coming suspension.
John,
I’m not sure where you’re going with the “too heavy” thought. Nothing I’ve read of Lo Duca’s comments (here or elsewhere) suggests he thinks there are too many hispanics on the Mets.
– ryan
I think LoDuca’s comment has been overblown and taken out of context. The first thing he said had to do with him being tired of being asked about appealing his suspension.
He never said anything about the other guys other than that they speak English. That doesn’t seem racist or controversial to me. It’s just LoDuca being the outspoken guy he is.
He’s right. You guys do quote the same few guys over and over again. Go talk to someone else for a change. Speak Spanish if you have to.
The journalists actually did what they had to do. A boring rain delay, nothing to write about. Get Paulie to explode. Worked like a charm!
Sounds to me he was just in a grouchy mood and a little tired of being the one the reporters go to for a quote.
I don’t read any major clubhouse problems into this.
Gil,
This is america and we are a melting pot. Learn English.
Many spanish people feel they are above learning english …
If i were to spend my working days in a spanish speaking country i would speak the language.
You need a common language to bind everyone. ENglish is that language. it is made up of so many other languages that it is perfect for conveying thought.
Steve
Still It wouldn’t hurt jounalists to learn another language instead of forcing the Latin players to learn English guickly so they could get some sound bites.
This is not a political debate.
I as a fan want to get some inside information about how the players feel about the game of BB and their life in BB.
Do you want the jounalists to tell the players to learn Enlish beause this is America? Get real.
Concerning language, I don’t think the problem is anyone thinking they are above learning English, it’s just that some have a problem learning any second language. And speaking a language is more difficult than simply understanding what is being said. So please don’t place the blame on an unwillingness to learn the language. Most of the latin players the Mets have can speak English well anyway.
It’s also unreasonable to ask reporters to learn Spanish. There are more Japanese players and Korean players in baseball. Should reporters go out and learn Korean and Japanese too?
While I think language barriers play into the problem, it’s only a small part of it. The bigger issues are willingness to talk to reporters, reporters looking for juicy quotes, Lo Duca’s temper, and the fact that he’s so quotable. Hence, I think the media naturally flocks to him.