I had not heard this story before, let me give you some background.

I only watched the Super Bowl casually, I’m not really a football fan.

However, listening this morning to The Mike Church show, Mike mentioned something about Deon Sanders and Cam Newton. He then mentioned an incident that took place between Deon Sanders and HOF catcher Carlton Fisk.  I had never heard the story, or don’t remember, so I looked it up and found this article.

From the Chicago Tribune:

“I said, ‘Run the bleeping ball out, you piece of bleep,” Fisk told the Tribune’s Alan Solomon the next day. “He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Run the ball out.'”

Sanders bravely turned his back and slinked off. He was playing in his 24th game. By then Fisk had played in more than 2,000 games. He waited, and when Sanders again came to bat to lead off the fifth inning, Fisk was ready.

“I made a point to make eye contact,” Fisk said. “Then he mumbled something. I said, ‘What did you say?’ He said, ‘The days of slavery are over.'”

The days of slavery are over? Amazing.

I didn’t mention race, but Sanders has dark skin and Fisk has lighter skin, although human hearts are red. And Sanders thought he could play the race card to excuse his heart problem.

“That’s when Fisk really let him have it,” wrote Solomon.

“He comes up and wants to make it a racial issue,” Fisk said then. “There’s no racial issue involved. It’s professional etiquette. … I said, ‘There’s a right way and a wrong way to play this game.'”

Fisk then explained the right and wrong way in direct terms right there at home plate. He even offered to demonstrate on Sanders’ person, by kicking him in the behind, but Sanders declined. The terms were quite pungent and the right and the wrong of things was so clear that even the Yankees dugout sided with Fisk.