Progress good to see in any sector

The historic impact of this presidential election hit home for this sports writer during last spring's primaries.

A woman and a mixed-race man already were vying for the Democratic nomination. A 70-something man and a Mormon already were vying for the Republican nomination.

All were serious candidates, not tokens crashing their respective parties.

But a Sunday morning during baseball's spring training applied an exclamation point.

ESPN was on the left side of my split-screen TV, a network news show on the right.

ESPN featured the Dodgers' last year in Dodgertown, their Vero Beach training facility since 1948. Much of the piece was devoted to segregation during the early years.

Black players like Jackie Robinson weren't allowed to lodge or dine in the same hotels and restaurants as their white teammates.

Meanwhile, on the opposite screen the discussion centered on Barack Obama's quest to become president of the United States - of Vero Beach, all of Florida, all of the Deep South, all of America.

Stunning was the contrast between the mid-20th century's exclusivity and the new millennium's diversity.

I was reminded of Sydney J. Harris' final syndicated column before his death in 1986.

An excerpt reads, "The lower, primitive part of the brain takes command and gives orders and is unquestioningly obeyed. Except for a very few, who stand by their principles and most often go down with them."

The entire column was depressingly pessimistic. Man, I wondered back then, was my final opinion of humanity destined to be that bleak?

As you know, I don't think in my lifetime the Cubs will win another World Series or the Bears will have another Hall of Fame quarterback.

I can live with that because sports are something to care about that doesn't matter.

Ah, but I have maintained hope that somehow the world will be better when I leave than when I arrived.

Actually it already was in some ways by 1986, if Harris only would have noticed. Voting rights, civil rights, minority rights, women's rights, all sorts of rights spread during his lifetime.

But the steps were painfully incremental, sort of like the important ones in sports were.

Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier. - Texas Western wins the NCAA basketball title with five black starters. - Black NFL quarterbacks and coaches become common. - Minority managers no longer are oddities in major-league baseball. - Title IX advances the cause of women in athletics and education. -

Heck, aging gracefully isn't even unusual in sports now. Jamie Moyer can pitch in the World Series at 45, and Julio Franco almost remained in the big leagues to 50.

Small steps, indeed, to the point where sports have become society's meritocracy.

The question: Would the rest of America catch up? With some giant leaps this election indicated it just might.

My goodness, the Democrats' presidential candidate was a younger man from a black father and a white mother. The GOP's was an older man with a younger female as his running mate.

Now it's clear that minorities, women and others have a better chance to become president as the Dodgers leave Vero Beach than when they arrived there.

Progress is neat, in both sports and society.

mimrem@dailyherald.com