tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109098029372196005.post2034297464403885078..comments2024-03-28T01:57:37.759-07:00Comments on The Infinite Baseball Card Set: 192. Shumza Sugimoto: A False Spring or Lost in Translation?Gary Joseph Cieradkowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780041109109187257noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109098029372196005.post-4166922486371167242015-02-21T15:26:37.935-08:002015-02-21T15:26:37.935-08:00Remember Sidd Finch? Granted, Author George Plimpt...Remember Sidd Finch? Granted, Author George Plimpton crafted his fictional biography of the out-of-left-field Mets phenom as a deliberate April Fools' Day hoax on the Sports Illustrated readership, but human nature is often surprising, and the assumption that venerated sportswriter William Koelsch would not risk compromising his professional integrity by writing a similarly fantastic account of a non-existent ballplayer doesn't convince me that he didn't. As a matter of fact, the Spanish-American war had been created out of virtual wholecloth only a few years earlier than the Sugimoto incident via the machinations of one of the most powerful men in the journalism industry, William Randolph Hearst, who deliberately stoked the flames of anti-Spanish sentiment in his newspapers for purely political and monetary profit. Whether the tale of Shumza Sugimoto is truly a lost chapter in baseball's long and dreary history of discrimination against anyone who wasn't white and male, a completely fabricated narrative of a gifted athlete who never existed, or something in between, it's all still quite fascinating! Thanks for doing the research, Gary, and for seeking additional insight from two of SABR's finest, Rob Fitts and Bill Staples, who add such substance to the meat of your story. Great writing, fun and thought-provoking reading.Perry Barberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11508564357418157432noreply@blogger.com