I've taken in two Brewers games this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed this entire series against the Pirates. It helps that the Brewers swept them, but there was more to it than that. The games were exciting and the weather was perfect for baseball.
Saturday night's Brewers game was a tribute to the Negro League teams, including our own Milwaukee Bears. In honor of the event, the Brewers and the Pirates wore replica uniforms of Negro League teams (which were very cool) and there was a ceremony at the start of the game to commemorate the contribution of the League and its players. Honestly, none of that really registered with me until late in the game, though.
In the bottom of the ninth, the score was tied, 1-1. Rickie Weeks was sacrifice bunted to second base by J.J. Hardy, who is currently playing like a man possessed. That brought Ryan Braun to the plate. What did the Pirates choose to do? They walked him to get to Prince Fielder. Prince then hit the game winning base hit that drove Weeks home.
Something about the situation struck me as odd. True, it was good baseball fundamentals to walk Braun and get the double play possibility open with one out. But isn't it kind of interesting that the Pirates walked the white guy to pitch to the black guy during the Negro League tribute game? And then the black guy won the game.
Baseball. It's not just a game; it's a lesson in racial equality.
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