I guess if this subject needs discussion, I can tell you of a conversation my late-dad, then writing sports for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, had with Willie Mays back in the 1950's when the New York Giants were in Arizona for spring training.

Willie was talking to my dad about a conversation he had with the Brooklyn Dodgers' Roy Campanella during a game in one of the previous seasons, anywhere from 1951 to 1954.

Campanella, catching behind the plate, jokingly asked Willie: "Willie, do you see that man out there (pointing to Dodgers' pitcher Don Newcombe)? That's big Don Newcombe. He hates ni**ers."

So Willie proceeded to hit a homerun off of Newcombe anyway. I guess the point is that ballplayers like Campanella and Mays can share a few laughs together about their race, even the racists in those days had other names for them, especially once Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.