Dusty Baker has put his foot squarely in his mouth, as Rick Morrissey reports.

The Cubs had two problems in the first inning Saturday: It was hot, and Shawn Estes was white. Then it cooled off a bit, and Estes was still white. Worse, he was still Estes.

It is Dusty Baker's opinion that blacks fare better in hot weather than whites do. How we arrived at this topic is something of a mystery, but the discussion started with the rigors of day games at Wrigley Field and ended with a Baker commentary on skin color and heat.

Is the Cubs' manager right? There is enough evidence to suggest he isn't, but his theory does give Cubs fans another out should their team fall apart this season. To the normal excuses—too many day games, organizational cheapness, the Billy Goat curse, etc.—you can now add the Wilting White Man theory.

"You have to pretend that you're a construction worker out there," Baker said before Saturday's game. "You have no choice. It's easier for me. It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people. Most of us come from heat.

"You don't find too many brothers from New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Right? We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over here because we can take the heat?"

Now, I was always taught that you wear light colors in the summer, because light colors reflect heat, while dark colors absorb heat. Morrissey goes on to point out studies that blacks suffer more during the heat than whites.

Kevin Blackistone, who I believe Dusty would call "a brother," does not refrain from criticizing Baker:

It should be pointed out that The Associated Press prefaced Baker's comments by noting that he was chuckling when he launched into his dizzying dissertation. That was to suggest that maybe he wasn't taking his own words seriously. Unfortunately, he plowed ahead.

"[Black's] skin color is more conducive to heat than it is for lighter skin people, right?" he went on. "You don't see brothers running around burnt. Yeah, that's a fact. I'm not making this stuff up. Right? You don't see some brothers walking around with white stuff on their ears and noses."

Who, boy.

Now, I'd like to just chuckle along with Baker, too. In fact, had he said the same thing to me in the privacy of a corner booth in some watering hole, I probably would have just chuckled at his commentary and shook my head.

But he said what he did to the media. Outlets around the country, including The Dallas Morning News, picked it up, and it was incorrect. It stood only to fuel a misnomer that has led to a stereotype.

Isn't that always the case. I really didn't mean what I said. It was just in fun. Al Campanis was just joshing. Trent Lott was just complimenting an old man. John Rocker was doing stand-up comedy! Blackistone finishes:

I don't want any of my previous or future condemnations of similarly foolish statements out of white mouths to be dismissed because I refrained from criticizing my own. After all, wrong is wrong, no matter the perpetrator's skin color. And Dusty Baker was flat-out wrong.

OK, Baker was wrong. What should be done about it? Should he be fired? Should he be suspended? More importantly, should we re-examine the complaints made about Bonds by Kent, that Dusty gave Bonds special treatment. Did Dusty do that simply because Bonds was black and Kent was white? If so, this isn't someone who should be managing a major league team, despite his talent for doing so. I'd like to hear other people who have been managed by Dusty give their opinion on this.

I think the commissioner should at least suspend Baker for his remarks. Possibly not let him manage the all-star game. Tony La Russa was the runner-up last year, let him manage the game. Oh, I'm sorry, he might melt in the Chicago heat.

Thanks to Darren Viola for pointing this story out to me.

Update: I have more to say here.