CHICAGO. In 2003, Cubs' manager Dusty Baker caused an uproar by saying that black and Hispanic players were better suited to play in the sun and heat than whites. As the 2006 season enters the dog days of August, Baker is at it again.
His latest race-based claim? "White people smell like wet dogs," the straight-shooting skipper told reporters outside the batting cage at Wrigley Field before today's game against the Cincinnati Reds. And unlike his prior assertion, this time Baker says he has an expert to back him up. "Go talk to my man up in Evanston," he said, referring to Allen Reynolds, a sociology professor at Northwestern University.
"Dusty's view is based on a stereotype, but like many prejudices it has a grain of truth to it," Reynolds said. "Upper-class white people do smell like dogs favored by the affluent, such as black labrador retrievers and Jack Russell terriers. The odor is caused by the natural fibers they wear--the people, not the dogs--and by their participation in privileged outdoor activities such as field hockey and lacrosse." He noted that the phenomenon was especially pronounced among graduates of small liberal arts colleges.
Baker, who is African-American, was unapologetic at a post-game news conference. "I'm not racist," he complained. "Wet dog smell is a good thing." Baker then compounded his original offense by telling a joke that some white reporters in attendance took exception to. "How do you spot the bride at a WASP wedding?" he asked, then paused for effect. "She's the one kissing the golden retriever!" he said to scattered laughter and a few groans.
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was accused of a double standard when Baker made his initial comment in 2003, since John Rocker, a white Atlanta Braves pitcher, had previously been disciplined for insensitive racial remarks while Baker went unpunished. Rocker was philosophical about Baker's latest gaffe. "I think we've all got to loosen up a little bit and not be so thin-skinned," he said by telephone. "After all, Bud Selig does smell like a dachshund."
Yea..I can see upper middle class smelling like a dog however Hispanics smell like they just walked out of a brewery and blacks smell like stragiht up "Jerry Curl Juice"!
that jerry curl juice is just a joke but all whites smell like wet dog and its the fact not a joke,,,nothing will change that you all smell like animals. Thats a mystery?????
Con Chapman is the author of "The Year of the Gerbil: How the Yankees Won (and the Red Sox Lost) the Greatest Pennant Race Ever," a history of the 1978 AL East pennant race, and "CannaCorn", a novel about minor league baseball to be published by Joshua Tree Publishing in 2009. He has written a number of plays, including "Number One Hockey Mom," "Please, Pope," and "What Mickey Belle Isle Told You," a trilogy about hockey (JAC Publishing). His articles and humor have appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and The Atlantic Monthly, among others.
