Longtime lurker to this board,first post.
Tim’s an entertaining player who makes mistakes, to be sure. But as other posters have noted, he is young. He’s also playing the most difficult position in baseball (along with catcher), so the learning curve is greater in that regard. Luis Aparicio had 35 errors in his first year -- he recorded 30 errors as late as 1960. So this happens with shortstops
This thread is primarily interesting because of its casual racism, though. Lillian’s comment about basketball players, baseball IQ’s and genetic was especially troubling in its casual racism. And troubling because no one called this out.
It’s not altogether surprising, though. I’ve been a Sox fan for more than 40 years and went to school near Sox Park (proud DeLaSalle alumnus). And the one thing that many Sox fans don’t want to admit is that there’s a core group of Sox fans that has always had a double-standard for black and Latin players, including the best player in franchise history, Frank Thomas.
I think this is partly because the core Sox fans have historically come from nearby neighborhoods like Bridgeport, Canaryville, Mount Greenwood, Morgan Park and other Southwest Side neighborhoods which have had a history of racial tension and animosity towards blacks and Latins.
This animosity exists today, as noted by this Sun-Times story about a Latin little league team being labeled as “taco boys” when they played in Beverly: https://chicago.suntimes.com/?post_type=cst_article&p=1067048
