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New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain reacts after recording a strikeout to end the eighth inning of the Yankees' 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

The Joba-Jacoby Show: Let Them Take You Out to the Ballgame

By Dalton Walker

In their own unique way, a Navajo and a Winnebago are climbing the ladder of, well, actually a specific term does not come to mind considering these two baseball players are doing something no Native has quite done, ever.

And America is paying attention.

With all due respect to Jim Thorpe, Louis Sockalexis, Charles Bender and other Native baseball greats, Jacoby Ellsbury, 24, and Joba Chamberlain, 22, are in a league of their own.

Ellsbury, a quick-footed outfielder who floats around bases, plays for the Boston Red Sox and Chamberlain, a pitcher with a flamethrower for a right arm, tosses out of the New York Yankees bullpen.

The Boston Globe and Herald are having a feeding frenzy with Ellsbury while in New York, The Times, Post, Daily News and Newsday can't get enough of Chamberlain. TV networks are just as giddy about these two.

Don't believe me? Check out one of their sites and plug in Ellsbury or Chamberlain. Sports Illustrated and USA Today did centerpieces on Chamberlain. I'm sure Ellsbury's are coming, if they haven't been printed already.

Legends such as Thorpe, Sockalexis and Bender played in an era dominated by whites along with spectators who had pure hatred for non-whites. At the time, blacks weren't even allowed in the league. These legends are heroes to you and me, and their triumphs should never be forgotten or taken for granted.

Ellsbury and Chamberlain will not let that happen. All they have to do is continue to be themselves.

Sure, other Native baseball players have suited up for major league teams in the modern era, but none has quite done it on the stage Ellsbury and Chamberlain do almost daily.

Chamberlain hurls his 100 mph fastball in the house that Babe Ruth built, Yankee Stadium, while Ellsbury flashes his glove and bat in historic Fenway Park.

As nice and convenient as these two are linked in baseball's two largest markets, the Red Sox and Yankees, including their fans, hate each other. And I'm not talking about being mad at your friend for beating you in a game of Horse. I'm talking about physical beatings and profanity. Trust me, it has been reported.

Will these two unite the Red Sox Nation and the Yankee faithful? Don't count on it.

In a brief time I lived in Manhattan—last summer during an internship—I was privileged to take the green line train north to the Bronx to watch a Yanks game on hallowed ground. The game was literally played days before Chamberlain was called up from the minors.

Rats!

However, I did interview Chamberlain a couple years earlier during his days as a Cornhusker at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. But I missed and will continue to miss the "Joba" chants by more than 50,000 Yankee fans each time he takes the pitching mound.

Double rats!

Ellsbury, on the other hand, has a ring--a World Series ring. He played a role in last season's Red Sox sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

Imagine, Ellsbury legally could have been arrested and charged with trespassing for entering Boston's city limits. For what? For being Native, according to a 1675 law that was on the books up until only a few years ago.

Please take time to tell family and friends about these two and to tune in to ESPN when the Sox or Yanks play. Or, if you are lucky enough, visit Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, preferably with Joba or Jacoby gear on.

Remember, the Sox and Yanks play away games, too, so check the nearby pro team's schedule and circle the dates. Support these two young men in what should be a friendly rivalry that could spread past the next decade.

I know I will.

Dalton Walker, Red Lake Anishinabe, is a reporter at the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, S.D. Walker is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and the American Indian Journalism Institute. A longtime reznet staff writer and a Chips Quinn Scholar, Walker had reporting internships at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and The New York Times.

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