Former Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker says he was receiving racist hate mail

Earlier this morning, the Cincinnati Reds parted ways with manager Dusty Baker to the shock of many.

The lack of constant playoff success from the Reds certainly was a large reason for the dismissal, though, even Baker suggested that he was a bit stunned by the move.

He also mentioned that the past few weeks were very difficult on him as he was getting a rash amount of racist hate mail, this according to CBS Sports:

"“The last couple weeks, I’ve been getting a rash of hate mail, racial mail,” he said. “Maybe it is time to go.”“This is really ugly,” he said. “There are all sorts of references to Barack Obama. So now I know where they are coming from. I don’t know, maybe people are mad at him, so they don’t like the idea of blacks in authority.”"

Many times, professional athletes and those around them are put on elevated pedestals, all but ignoring that they too are human.

Frustration or not, ‘fans’ (a name they don’t deserve) sending such to anybody, manager or not, is unacceptable.