In an interview with GQ magazine that's currently on newsstands, the typically outspoken Tigers designated hitter said Latin players have replaced African-Americans as baseball's most prevalent minority because they are easier to control.
Actually, I do think there's a grain of truth to what Sheff has to say here: for instance, why, when outsourcing is such a rage in other industries as a cost-control measure, could someone not consider that Latin black players may be cheaper to sign than American Blacks; but, hey I'm not expert here either.
Based on the the quotes in this squib, Sheffield delivers his message in such a ham-handed and distorted way that he does nothing but turn his point into parody.
Baseball is just a small part of the racially-troubled society we call America; it is a microcosm.
To think there's not a racial component to what happens in MLB is simplistic.
But to expect a baseball player to diagnose complex social issues, just because millions of people have seen his face, is like asking a cashier at the local supermarket to explain why inflation is rising just because she deals with hundreds of people's money every day.
It doesn't work like that.
Sheff, next time, just pass on questions like this and stick to baseball.
The mainstream media reaction to this will be swift and predictable: they'll try to position Sheff as some kind of race-baiter and buffoon, but will never investigate whether or not there's some validity to his arguments; angered mainstream listeners on sports talk radio shows will ask, what if someone said something like that, but about Black players instead.
And a lot of sound and fury will rise, signifying nothing.