Talent-Laden

Those who wonder why the talent-laden Red Sox fall short of expectations year after year need look no further. The Red Sox have great players, but the attitude of the organization makes it impossible for the Red Sox to have a great team.

While the Red Sox management cannot be expected to control where their players eat on their own time, the Red Sox accepted the passes knowing they were for white players only--from a club practicing an official policy of racial discrimination--and distributed them to white players only.

Moreover, as Harper related, "Management made a practice of eating [at the Elks Club].

"When you get into a situation like this, it's wrong, it's demeaning. We're a team, but after the game they go to a segregated place where I can't go. It's just a slap. When nothing is done, it's a slap."

Any club that endorses racial discrimination obviously doesn't want to win in the major leagues.

Hey, these are not marginal players we are talking about here. Reggie Smith, Cecil Cooper, and Jim Rice were all among the most productive players on the team during their stay, and to alienate them for the sake of providing Haywood Sullivan and the white players with the best in cuisine during their grueling training is not the way to play it.

Several white players whom Harper refused to identify expressed their dissatisfaction with management over the issue.

Management responded to Harper's efforts to head off this source of team disunity by ignoring and then dismissing him.

Can anyone wonder, with such a divided team and such an unwise and misguided management, that some players don't seem able to summon up the extra effort for a stretch run?

Rice has remained silent during the controversy, as have other black players, but no one could imagine that they are happy about it or that the firing of Harper will increase team harmony.

While race relations are not the only reason for the Sox's failures, it certainly isn't helping.

The Red Sox past history does not hold out much hope that the club will issue a sincere apology and reinstate Harper willingly. Instead, they will likely fight tooth and nail, sending the team into 1986 as close knit as usual, ready to challenge for the title.